On November 29, Vatican Radio announced the surprising and very good news that you Catholics of Ireland had prepared a beautiful gift for us—a statue of the Holy Mother of God— and were preparing to bring it to Vilnius. The Soviet government was able to prevent the delivery of the gift, but it was powerless to prevent your love and your solidarity with those who suffer, from reaching us. These latter gifts are the most precious to us persecuted Catholics of Lithuania.
Accept, therefore, our Irish brethren, the heartfelt thanks of the Catholics of Lithuania for the gift, the love and the defense of our rights. May God reward you, who yourselves have experienced so many trials, for remaining sensitive to the fate of your faraway brethren!
The Catholics of Lithuania
