COPY  
 
 
REPORT OF DR. K. JANOS TOTH, REPPORTEUR FOR VATICAN AFFAIRS, ON THE  
SITUATION OF THE CHURCH IN BUDAPEST.  
 
 
1.    The Apostolic Nuncio went through the siege of the capital in Buda. The siege, which lasted for weight weeks, reached greater proportions than that of Stalingrad. The Nunciature suffered three direct hits.   
Anything not removed to the shelter (furniture, etc.) was destroyed.   
During the whole of the siege, which was full of privation and horror, the  
 Nuncio revealed great physical and moral courage. He lived in a damp   
cellar, without electricity, and struggled against a perpetual lack of   
water, with the heroic conduct the Nuncio wrote his name in the hearts of   
the inhabitants of Buda with golden letters: the people of Buda organized   
a spontaneous demonstration and cheered the person of the Nuncio on the   
occasion of the Te Deum, celebrated in the partially destroyed and   
ravaged coronation Basilica, on the anniversary of the coronation of   
His Holiness the pope. The Nuncio moved to Pest and, at present, is   
staying in the Dames Anglaises Convent in Vaci utca.  
 
 
The Nuncio, as well as Hungarian Catholics public opinion, was deeply   
affected by the fact that, on 22 March, the Russians orders him, together  
 with all other foreign Legations, to leave the country. The reason   
therefore was not given. This fact was the more painful since the Nuncio   
himself, through his charitable behavior and by hiding and protecting   
persecuted people, was also upholding the ideas of the Democratic states.   
Another injustice was suffered by the Nuncio at the hands of the Russians,  
 viz: the Soviet soldiers advancing on Var Hill practically robbed the   
Nunciature, carrying away its stock of medicines and provisions and even   
the personal belongings of the Nuncio. It is also true that the Russians   
later stationed a soldier armed with a machine pistol before the gates of   
the Nunciature for its defense and that he, for three days, did a   
sensationally good Job; but on the fourth day the guard himself robbed   
the Nunciature and disappeared.  
 
 
The expulsion af the Nunciature is unjust since the Nuncio by refusing  
to move to Szombathely broke off diplomatic relations with the szalasi   
government semi-officially. At this Junction there occurred a stormy   
conversation between the Nuncio and Gabor Kemeny. The Nuncio declared   
that as long as Catholic priests continued to be arrested and as long as   
a Catholic bishop is imprisoned (the Bishop of Vespprem in the Monostor   
Fortress in Kauarom) ae would not move from Budapest, where he had been   
sent to by the Holy Father, and where he wanted to assist suffering   
Hungariandom.  
 
 
2. The position of the clergy under the Russian occupation is fairly  
good. In general priests are not insulted or subject to forced labor; the   
priestly gown is their best protection everywhere (traveling, crossing   
bridges, in offices). The distinctive respect paid to the Catholic   
clerical