“God bless America”: so ends the letter of thanks in English that Cardinal Péter Erdo, Primate of Hungary and Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, has sent to US President George Bush, to mark the 50th anniversary of the revolution in Hungary in 1956. “I wish to express – writes Cardinal Erdo -, also on behalf of the Hungarian Catholic community as a whole, all my gratitude to you, Mr President, and to the whole American nation for the refuge and protection that you then gave to Cardinal Mindszenty during that period of hardship”. “I also seize this opportunity – he adds – to express our gratitude for the asylum given to thousands of Hungarian refugees who were forced to leave their country due to the events of the revolution in 1956 and who found a new and welcoming home in the Usa”. “For those who lived in Hungary during those dark years – recalls Cardinal Erdo – the many gifts and rations of food from the USA, which helped people in our country during and after the revolution, still remain a fond and unforgettable memory. The kind gestures of those days brought a message of solidarity and freedom – a message to which, living as we now do in a situation of freedom, we can now correspond with feelings of gratitude and solidarity”.
