Spanish bishops propose wide political reforms

Spanish bishops, in a draft document issued last week, proposed wide-ranging political reforms in Spain to ensure freedom of expression and assembly.
Their conclusions, reached at a recent plenary session of the Spanish Catholic Episcopal Conference, requested support for "profound changes in our institutions to guarantee fun damental rights for citizens, such as the right of expression and association."
The draft must receive a Iwothirds majority vote from the 79 bishops in the Episcopal Conference to be accepted as Church policy. Church sources said the draft was expected to be approved by next month.
The document also calls for a reconciliation between
Spaniards who were divided by the 1936-39 civil war into "victors and defeated."
Relations between the Church and State have become strained recently, with many Spanish priests criticising Government action against striking workers, Priests who have given outspoken sermons on labour conflicts have been heavily fined or jailed.
The President of the Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Vicente: Enrique y Tarancon, has presented a document to Signor Carlos Arias Navarro,. the Prime Minister, calling on the government to declare a general amnesty for Spain's political prisoners.