Oldal 3 [3]
OCR
re Be J 5 s page three a gar goverment, in line with its total policy of repressing any possible resistance foree, has now promulgated a law which, it hopes, will entirely submit any religious activities to its exelusive control. Churches, according to the new statute, ean be establishe only on a strictly national basiss they have to be recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have to have special permission for entertaining any relation with foreign countries. Members of the different elergies have to be of Bulgarian nationality. UWhureh finances are strictly controled by the Sééte. No Chureh is allowed te receive any material aid from foreign countires, without special authorization. Transactions related to any property a Church might own outside Bulgaria are exclusively to be made by the State. No activities, outside of those strietly related to the eult, are allowed to Churches. They are not to own or organize hospitals, orphanages, schools and similar institutions. Those which they already own are confiseated by the State. Education is a purely State matter. The Churches have only the right to open seminaries for the formation of their clergy, but those establishments as well as their study programs will have to be controled by the government. This new status eliminates all independent Churches. Sknc Sinee Bulgarian Orthodoxy has long age made its entire submission to Moscow, it is elear to all observers of Bulgarian affairs, that this new measure is aimed specifically at the Catholic Church, whose strong international ties and strong resistance has led already in past years to most eruel repressionse Most of its clergy is already in prison or has disappeared. my = On a country that is of greatest strategical importance to the Soviet Union, Moscow has now enforeed its hold, by striking on the three spots where resistance was to be feareds at the unreliable elements in Party and governments at farmers, artisans and independent business; finally at those Churches that refused to admit the unification under the Moscow rule. Oh
