Prom Our Own Correspondent I%LiLTA.
Some agitation has hecti caused in Malta by an unauthorized and erroneous announcement that Mgr. Michael Gonzi, Bishop of Gozo, had been appointed to the See of Malta in succession to Mgr. Sir Maurus Carnaila, G.C.O.St.G., U.S.B.
Lord Strickland was the leader Of the political party to which
Mgr. Gonzi and the political group to which he affiliated himself were opposed.
The day following the publication in The Times of Malta of the adverse comment on the suggestion that Mgr. Gonzi should in due course be promoted
from Gozo to Malta, Mgr. Caruana, the Archbishop of Malta, writing to his colleague of Gozo, expresped his " deepest regret " at reading the leading article in The Times of Malta "against the venerable person of Your Lordship." Mgr. Caruana's letter, which is published in the local press, continues:
"We are greatly surprited that there are still to be found persons who attribute to political motives the action which We had jointly deemed it our duty to take some years ago in the sole interests of Religion. . . ."
This is a reference to the joint pastoral letter of the Bishops of Malta and Gozo, issued during the elections of 1930 (May 1), in which the Faithful were warned not to vote for those political leaders who by their attitude were damaging the cause of true religion : this was directly aimed at Lord Strickland's Constitutional Party and the Labour Party in alliance with him.
The party to which Mgr. Gonzi belonged was a " moderate Labourite " party seeking to keep the balance between pro-British and pro-Italian extremists.
'Truce in Spain?
The Committee on Spain, of the French War Veterans' Organization, is striving to bring about an eight-day truce in the Spanish War.
They want the fronts to be held by a skeleton force while the rest of the armies go home for the holidays.
It is also stated that General Franco and Sr. Negrin have given "preliminary agreement" to the plan,
Official Spanish Nationalist sources in London disclaim all knowledge of the possibility of the Men materializing.