One Century's Saint . . .

It has been said of Pedro Cardinal Segura y Saenz, Archbishop of Seville, that in the 15th century he would have been counted a saint. In the 20th, he is regarded as somewhat old-fashioned--not to say reactionary. Last week Cardinal Segura again expressed annoyance at Generalissimo Francisco Franco's government for allowing limited religious toleration of non-Catholics. In a pastoral letter, he took issue with the "bill of rights" which the Spanish government enacted in 1945. This recognizes Roman Catholicism as Spain's official religion, but allows non-Catholics to practice their faith in private.

Cardinal Segura fears that Protestants might take advantage of loopholes in the bill of rights to proselytize for their religion; such activity is not expressly forbidden. He would like Spain's government to reaffirm the 1851 concordat--abrogated in 1931 by the Spanish Republic--which pledges the state to assist the Catholic bishops, "especially when they are compelled to oppose the wickedness of men who are attempting to pervert the souls of the faithful and to corrupt their morals . . ." This, by Cardinal Segura's definition, would include any airing of Protestant ideas or any Protestant worship for Spaniards. (Protestantism has shown slight gains recently, partly because some members of the opposition have chosen this means of registering a reaction against both the government and the established church.) Wrote the cardinal: "It causes one real pain to see the tolerance shown toward non-Catholic sects among us and the indifference of the Catholics toward this question."

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