3.     The Importance of This Problem in the Present Concrete Situation

Before weighing all the arguments pro and con, let us say something about the concrete importance of this problem.

The importance of this problem for the nations under Communist regimes is obvious.

It seems necessary for us to say something about its importance for the Western countries, particular­ly with regard to Communist plans for penetrating these countries with ideological imperialism ‑ plans which aim at an ultimate worldwide victory of the Communists.

The fear that, in the case of such a Communist victory, the Church will become subject everywhere to the horrors it suffered in Mexico, Spain, Russia, Hungary, and China, constitutes the principal reason for the decision of 500 million Catholics scattered the world over ‑ bishops, priests, monks, nuns, and laymen ‑ to resist Communism to the death. More­over, this same consideration, applied to the other religions, is the principal reason for the anti‑Commu­nist stand taken by the hundreds of millions of per­sons professing these creeds.

In the order of psychological factors, this heroic decision represents the greatest obstacle ‑ or perhaps even the only significant one ‑ against the establish­ment and permanent endurance of Communism throughout the world.

How, then, we may ask has this heroic decision been affected by the aforementioned change in atti­tude of some Communist governments toward the various religions? The fact is that, regardless of the tactical reasons that may have determined this change in attitude, the religious tolerance which some Communist governments practice at present, and which their propaganda proclaims with great exaggeration to the whole world, provides them al­ready with an immense profit which may be stated as follows: In view of the alternatives which this change in attitude opens up, opinions in religious circles are divided over which policy to adopt, there­by resulting in a breaking down of the ramparts of solid and intransigent opposition to Communism previously maintained unanimously by those who believe in God and worship Him.

In fact Catholics and those belonging to other confessions are having trouble fixing an attitude toward Communism in the face of the new religious policy of certain Communist governments, a condi­tion which is giving rise to perplexities, divisions, and even polemics. Many Catholics ‑ according to their degree of fervor, optimism, or suspicion ‑continue to believe that the only sensible and con­sistent attitude is one of absolute opposition toward Communism, but others believe that accepting im­mediately without further resistance a situation such as the one prevailing in Poland would be better than fighting to the end against Communist penetration only to fall into a much more oppressive situation such as the one prevailing in Hungary.

Besides this it appears to these latter that ac­ceptation by the people still free of a Communist or quasi‑Communist regime, could prevent the cosmic tragedy of an atomic war. There is only one reason which would lead them to accept resignedly the risk of such a hecatomb: the duty to fight to pre­vent a worldwide persecution of unprecedented proportions aimed at the radical extermination of the Church. But they see a possibility that this danger may not materialize, since in certain Com­munist countries the Church is allowed to survive, even though reduced to a minimum of liberty; therefore, their determination to face the danger of an atomic war becomes very much weakened. And the idea of establishing everywhere on an almost worldwide scale a "modus vivendi" between the Church and Communism ‑ along the same lines as the one in Poland ‑ gains ground among these Catholics, even though accepted as an evil, but nevertheless a lesser evil.

Between these two points of view, an immense majority has begun to form, a majority which is disoriented and indecisive and, for this same reason, psychologically less prepared for the struggle than it was until recently.

If this phenomenon of a weakening in the anti-­Communist attitude can be found in persons utterly opposed to Marxism, how natural it is for it to be more intense among the so‑called leftist Catholics, who are becoming more and more numerous and who, without professing materialism and atheism, are in sympathy with the economic and social aspects of Communism!

In synthesis, then, in all or in nearly all of the countries not yet subject to the Communist yoke, millions of Catholics who only yesterday would have gladly died in regular armies or guerrilla units to prevent the establishment of Communism in their native countries or to overthrow any such regime that managed to gain power, today no longer have the same disposition. Moreover, in the event of a crisis of panic, such as the situation arising in the face of an imminent nuclear war, this phenomenon may be intensified further, probably leading entire nations to catastrophic capitulations to the Commu­nist powers.

All of this reminds us that the relative religious tolerance of some Communist governments has placed the consciences of millions and millions of men in our day at a crossroad, and brings into re­lief the importance of studying as soon as possible the various aspects of the moral questions inherent to that crossroad.

It is perfectly reasonable to state that a consider­able part of the world's future depends upon the solution of this problem.