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Vatican Radio Refutes Nazi Propaganda Desperate religious conditions in Poland have been revealed by the Vatican radio in an English broadcast, correcting a report of an alleged interview with a priest published in Spanish newspapers, states the "Universe." The report came from Breslau, Germany. The Vatican announcer said it had been published in good faith by the Spanish Press, but the general impression it gave was very far from the known facts.
Ile added that among the clergy of Breslau there is no priest with the name given in the report. There is a name somewhat similar; but in any case a priest who could not possibly obtain the facts from the responsible diocesan authorities could not be regarded as a qualified witness. The report professed to deal with Cracow, Czestochowa and five other dioceses. It said that in these dioceses no obstacle is put in the way of the practice of religion, that damaged churches are being repaired, that the sacraments are frequented by large ..umbers of people, that the seminaries are functioning, and, generally, that tnere is co-operation with the Reich It should be recalled, said the announcer, that after the conquest, Poland was divided into three parts. One part was incorporated in the U.S.S.R., another in the Reich, and the third part is known as the General GoverMANY POLES DEPORTED TO
SIBERIA WASHINGTON The Polish Embassy here states that it has been informed that several hundred thousand Poles belonging to that part of their homeland now occupied by Russia have been deported to Siberia. These exiles, says the Embassy, -rank from a very young age up to the age of 72, and many women are among them. ' They will increase the number of the so-called undesirables, who are sent out to Siberia, there to die slowly of misery, starvation and cold by 20,000 a year. "Statistics show that one-third of those deported disappear without being accounted for." -
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norship, with no special regime in occupation. The report in the Spanish Press dealt only with the General Governorship and with only seven of the 15 dioceses in that area. In the area incorporated in the Reich there are 5,500,000 Catholics and they suffer the greatest religious difficulties. Those churches which have not been closed are permitted to open on Sundays for only two to three hours. Mass can be celebrated on week days only behind closed doors and without the attendance of laity. Many of the Bishops and hundreds of priests, secular and religious, are exiled, or in concentration camps, or have been killed. Of the clergy of the diocese of Poznan some 200 are in concentration camps or are dead. Of more than 300 parishes 115 are without clergy. Clergy have practically no means of support. They receive no salary and the church property has been consecated Some 70 per cent of the clergy are absent from their posts. In the seven dioceses of the General Governorship there are numerous districts without priests, so that the faithful die without the sacraments. Seminaries have been closed and their students dispersed. Many of the inhabitants of the German-occupied territory have been sent into the interior of Germany. Here they are destitute of spiritual help, because the German priests do not know Polish. In the diocese of Katowice churches remain open, but religious practice is nevertheless extremely difficult. Since June 3 the Bishop has been obliged to forbid the use of Polish in the churches-the one language the people un-
derstand. In another diocese it has been forbidden to make confessions in Polish.
Twenty-three German priests are still kept prisoners in Nazi camps, it is concentration learned on unquestionable authority. None has ever been given a legal trial. It is also learned reliably that more than 500 Polish priests were recently arrested by the
Nazi police in Poland and taken to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, near Berlin. Like all other inmates, the priests are being subjected to ignominious treatment.
In the General Governorship the conditions are not so bad as in the two other areas. The people are working magnificently for the re -opening of their churches, even to the point of denying themselves food that they need. One or two dioceses excepted, the maintenance of the religious life of the people is, all the same, possible only by overcoming great difficulties. The Polish religious associations have been suppressed. Catholic Action has been suppressed and its headquarters in Warsaw taken over. University faculties of theology have been suppressed, and the Catholic University of Lublin closed. Most of the larger seminaries have been requisitioned. Priests, religious and seminaries continue to be arrested. All that remains of the flourishing Catholic Press is a few diocesan bulletins, and these are subject to censorship. The diocese of Lublin, with 980,000 Catholics, has no Bishop in its midst. The Bishop of the see has been released from a concentration camp but has not been permitted to return to the diocese, and the Auxiliary Bishop is now in a concentration camp. 46,000 CANADIAN
WORKERS ARE IN CATHOLIC UNIONS
MONTREAL.Figures just published show that the Confederation of Canadian Catholic Workers has 46,341 members grouped in 12 trade unions The building trades union is the largest of these, having more than 10,000 members. Montreal has 49 syndicates and 13,350 members. Quebec has 51 syndicates and 12.280 members.
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