VATICAN II AND HUNGARY 61termed the state security forces of the Soviet Bloc “a system pro-
ducing paper.”28
The Hungarian Conciliar Delegation, State Security,
and the 1964 Partial Agreement
When the Vatican finally began to invite Council fathers in early
1962, most questions regarding the Catholic Church in Hungary
were still unresolved, and communication between Rome and
Hungary was still nearly impossible. At this moment, it had been
twelve years since the last bishop from Hungary could officially
visit the Vatican. But John XXIII did not give up hope for the par-
ticipation of as many bishops as possible from the Communist
countries, seeking to reopen the lines of communication and to
assure the truly global character of the Council.29
Most Hungarian bishops received the invitation in January,
though others only months later, including Cardinal Mindszen-
ty—who was still confined to the U.S. embassy.30 Bishop Shvoy
declared that “either all or none of the Hungarian bishops should
travel to Rome.”31 Bishop Endre Hamvas of Csanád, who had pre-
sided over the Hungarian episcopate since 1961, told Shvoy that
Rittersporn, Malte Rolf, and Jan C. Behrends (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003),
307–34.
- Katherine Verdery, What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next? (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1996), 24. - Fejérdy, Magyarország és a II. Vatikáni Zsinat, 26.
- Archbishop Franz König of Vienna visited Mindszenty regularly beginning
in 1963; Maria Pallagi, “ ‘Az osztrák kapcsolat’: Franz König, bécsi bíboros látogatásai
Mindszenty József hercegprímásnál (1963–1971),” Aetas, no. 1 (2010): 93–112. Mind-
szenty was concerned that he would not be able to return to the country if he were
to leave. His difficult case was only resolved in 1971, after complicated negotiations
involving the Hungarian government, the Vatican, and the United States. - Shvoy, letter to Bishop Endre Hamvas, July 21, 1962, in Szabó, A Szentszék és
a Magyar Népköztársaság kapcsolatai a hatvanas években, 56; see Margit Balogh, “Az - szeptember 9-ei magyar-szentszéki megállapodás,” Századok 147, no. 4 (2014):
875–930.