SEPARATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 130, 5 June 1933, Page 7

SEPARATION.

CHURCH AND STATE. Pope Denounces New Spanish Measures. REGULATION OF RELIGION. (United I'.A.-ElectricTelegrapli -Copyright) (Received 12..10 p.m.) MADRID, June 4. After ;i week's delay, during which it was the Government was hesitating, the President, Don Zamora, himself a devout Roman Catholic, has signed a decree regulating religious orders and closing Catholic schools. As a sequel all the Spanish Archbishops have forbidden Catholic children to attend secular schools under penalty of excommunication. The bishops also have sent a message to the President protesting against the grave injury to the Church and discourtesy to the Pope, whose attitude in relation to Don Zamora is the subject of excited speculation, A message from Rome states that the Pope in an encyclical denounces the Spanish law decreeing the separation of the Church from the State, also the Religious Orders Bill which previously he declared was a masterpiece of iniquity against God. The Pope now urges the Spanish clergy to use all means to further religious instruction and all the faithful to unite to defend the faith. Nevertheless, the Pope hints at a possibility of co-operation between the Church and the Government. A later message says that the encyclical does not order the Spanish Catholics to thwart political reforms, as the Church accommodates herself to all forms of civil institutions provided the fight for God and Christian conduct is left intact. The encyclical complains that not only is teaching hampered but worship also, including the administration of the Sacraments and the exequies for the dead.