Bombs and threats resound in Malta

MALTA plunged deeper into crisis this week following a bomb explosion in a Church mission and renewed threats from the Mintoff government to call on the Pope to remove Archbishop Mercieca.
The bomb attack in Hamrun, outside the capital, Valletta was on the premises of a mission which runs one of the schools closed in the Church's struggle with the government over religious education. Little damage was done and there were no casualties.
Tension remained high in the country amid repeated accusations by opposition leaders that the government is allowing "a complete breakdown of law and order", by railing to use police against "rampaging" pro-government supporters.
There were also claims by a Church lawyer that the Dom
Mintoff government is guilty of "dishonest manoeuvres" in the courts, which are hearing the Church's appeal against new laws which will end the system of religious education, as it exists at the moment.
Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Carmelo Milsud-Bonnici, regarded as a "hawk" in the continuing Church-State crisis, has decreed that any judge who has children or grandchildren at Catholic Schools has a vested interest in the case and therefore is not eligible to sit in judgement on it.
As the Church-State conflict went into its third week, Malta's 72 Catholic schools remained closed. Catholic parents entered the fray with Dr. Harry Vassallo, chairman of the Confederation of Parent/Teachers Associations calling for "a free country" and "respect for human rights".