Cardinal Innitzer and the Nazis The anti-Catholic riots in Vienna
this week, culminating in an attack on the Archbishop's Palace, throw the religious conflict in the new Reich into the sharpest relief, especially because Cardinal Innitzer, at whom they were directed, has long been known for his sympathies with National Socialism.
In March he was at the head of the Austrian bishops in urging Catholics to vote for the Anschluss. His action was repudiated by the Vatican, and later the negotiations between the Austrian Church and the Reich were broken off by Cardinal Innitzer himself. His Nazi sympathies were sometimes attributed to his being a Sudeten German by origin ; but last Friday, at a time when the Cardinal might have been expected to rejoice at the return of his homeland to the Reich, he preached a sermon to the Catholic Youth in Vienna declaring that during the last month they had " lost nearly everything " to the Nazis, and excusing the attitude adopted by the Austrian Bishops by the heavy responsibility they have had to carry. Six months of Nazi rule seems to have disillusioned the Cardinal, no less than thousands of others in Vienna. There are some who will find it appro- priate that the Nazis in Catholic Vienna should celebrate the Anschluss of Bohemia with the Reich by attacking their Cardinal, breaking up his Palace, destroying the ancient library of the Austrian bishops and breaking both the legs of an aged and defenceless priest. The police made no attempt to prevent this outrage. * * *
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