Openness

From page 3 Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to Archbishop Camara.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in Spain, bishops voted for greater separation from the State and in November it was announced that the Concordat between Spain and the Vatican would be revised. In Barcelona members of the Justice and Peace Commission were taken to court; police surrounded a seminary where priests were holding a discussion; and at the Zamora prison near Madrid, six priests went on hunger strike to protest against not being confined in a normal jail.
In Poland, the bishops urged resistance to atheism and secularisation, attacked school reforms which thteatened religious education, and called for an investigation into repression of religious freedom. There were discussions to "normalise" relations with the state, and Cardinal Wyszinski. Primate of Poland, visited the Pope.
His Hungarian counterpart. Cardinal Mindszenty, flew from Vienna to London for a four-day visit at Cardinal Heenan's invitation. In Albania a priest was executed for baptising a child.
Shortage of priests caused mounting concern in Western Europe. In England the report "Co-Responsibility and the Clergy" recommended closer links between priests and their bishops. Two French bishops said priestly celibacy was essential.
In June an appeal for Westminster Cathedral closed, and Bristol Cathedral opened, amid protests. Six months later it was announced that Westminster Cathedral would be £100,000 in the red within two years.
Among prominent Catholics who died in 1973 were Jacques
Maritain, the French theologian. Owen Brannigan, the singer, and Cardinal Heard. The death of Michael de la Bedoyere, editor of the Catholic Herald for 27 years, came as a particular blow, as shown by the flood of letters paying him tribute.
On the 10th anniversary of the Pope's pontificate in June there were inevitably rumours about his future. In typical demonstrations of his concern to hold the Church together. Pope Paul called for reconciliation. announced a Holy Year for 1975 and warned against a strong distinction between the "charismatic" and the "institutional" Church.
Hans Ming, the German theologian who refused to attend what he considered an unfairly organised hearing in Rome, expressed his esteem for the Pope. And Mrs. Golda Meir and the Dalai Lama visited the Vatican.