CHURCH AND STATE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3733, 18 December 1906, Page 2

CHURCH AND STATE.

The French Separation Law.

Laity and the Vatican.

Paris, Dec. 15.

The Archbishop of Paris authorises a statement that the lay parishioners of several Paris churches in making notifications regarding services were honestly intending to prevent trouble, and without encroaching on the pastoral authority. In thus acting they were not guilty <Atfiob£dience to the Pope, who*r prohibition was addressed to the clergy alone.

Masses in the churches at Paris and elsewhere are scantily attended. The Police have collected evidence of infringements of the law.

The Position In Spain.

Madrid, December 14,

The Marquis of Armijo, the Spanish Premier, follows the anticlerical policy in the matter of re - ligious associations foreshadowed by his predecessor, Senor Motet in July, while maintaining a conciliatory tone in his relations with the Vatican.

It was announced in September that Spain and the Vatican had come to an agreement on ecclesiastical matters, but subsequently it was reported that the Concordat was being denounced by Spain to allow of its being modified in a liberal sense.

Paris, Dec 16,

M. Briand has introduced a Bill into the Chamber of Deputies giving communes, departments and States immediate ownership of the churches, vicarage^and seminaries, arranging for the organisation of services, and' suppressing the stipends of priests officiating without conforming to the law. Fifteen archi-episcopal and episcopal palaces and eighteen large seminaries will be vacated on Friday.