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Communism and Catholicism hove often been
cast
in
the role
of
deadly enemies. But the barriers may be torn
down in the future. Signs
of
thaw and its significance are
plainly evident
on
both sides.
by
lester
l.
Grabbe
"DELIGION is the opiate of the people," wrote Lenin, the foun–
ft
der of Soviet Communism. His religious antagonist, Pope Leo
XII, stated
in
1891
that Socialism, induding Communism,
leads to "an odious and unbearable state of servitude for every
citizen."
These seemingly irreconcilable positions between Catholicism
and Communism have been maintained - at least to the casual ob–
server - for decades. But note the very surprising recent moves on
both sides of che ideological fence:
MENDING POLITICAL FENCES
e
President Tito of
commu-nist
Yugoslavia conferred person–
ally with Pope Paul VI for
90
minutes on March
29, 1971.
e
At the end of February 1971, Archbishop Agostino Casaroli,
Vatican undersecretary for foreign affairs, traveled to Moscow as
the first official emissary to che Soviet Union since che Bolshevik
Revolution.
e
Cardinal Wyszynski of Poland called on Catholics to pray
for the new Communist party leaders after the food riots at the
end of
1970.
e
The Pope dispatched delegations to Prague, Czechoslovakia
and Bulgaria in
1970.
e
In August
1971,
ltalian-residing Father Pedro Arrupe, direc–
tor of
35,000
Jesuüs (Society of Jesus) around che world, stopped in
Russia for four days on his trip to the Par East.