Page 5, 26th August 1983
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A special correspondent in Malta reports on the state grab for Church land.
A DISPUTE over ownership of St. John's Cocathedral in gVraolwetintag Chahsurchhititraltige
Malta over a government
hcteladsh the
Malta over a government
decision to expropriate many CbGuorcvherpnrmopeenrt atieust.
horities claim the 161h-century church, an architectural masterpiece built by the Knights of Malta and
containing some of the island nation's best-known artistic treasures,.belongs to the people of Malta. Church authorities say the Catholic Church has always considered the cocathedral church property, although it has no legal deed to prove ownership.
The public debate which emerged in late July and early August over ownership of the Church symbolizes the broader dispute in the overwhelmingly Catholic country since June 27, when the government passed a law expropriating certain kinds of Church property.
In a related development, government sources said the Vatican has broken off diplomatic negotiations with the government over t h c expropriation issue. With the prospect of any negotiated settlement disappearing, the government will proceed unilaterally to implement the whole law within the next six months, the sources said.
When the legislature voted on the Devolution of Certain. Church Properties Act on June 27, all 34 members of the ruling Malta Labour party voted for it, while all 31 members of the opposition Nationalist Party did not vote in protest.
No clear figures have been given on the amount or value of church property which would belong to the state under the new law, but it is a major issue within the tiny nation. Maltese foreign minister Alex Scebarras Trigona has said one-third of all property in Malta is in the hands of the Church, and an Italian national Catholic newspaper Avvenire. estimated the law would transfer to the state as much as 80 per cent of the Church's holdings.
The expropriation law was the culmination of several years of efforts by the government to force the Church to provide free education in its 63 schools, which educate about one quarter of the country's 80,000 school children. In 1980 the government ended its tuition grants to the children in Catholic schools. Last year, in an effort to force the Church to provide free schooling, the government banned all tuition payments by parents until the fees should be abolished.
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