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Gulyás: Hope for József Mindszenty's beatification

Cardinal József Mindszenty, who was appointed bishop in 1944, raised his voice against both Nazi and communist oppression in Hungary.

Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, said that after the beatification of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński of Poland, hopes are that Hungary's Cardinal József Mindszenty may be next in line.

According to MTI, Gulyás said that Wyszyński and Mindszenty “showed the same exemplary strength in standing up against the communist regime,” and noted the Polish cardinal’s role in creating the modern Polish state. Mindszenty’s actions bolstered the Hungarian Catholic Church in similar historical circumstances, and so “his beatification may also take place sooner or later.”

Mindszenty, who was appointed bishop in 1944, raised his voice against both Nazi and communist oppression in Hungary. He was appointed to Archbishop, then Cardinal of Esztergom after the second world war but sentenced to life imprisonment on false charges by the communist regime in 1948. He took refuge at the US embassy after the 1956 uprising, and lived there until 1971 when he was allowed to leave the country. He died in Vienna in 1975.