Religion: Roman Inroads

Four new Soviet bloc bishops

As if following the path from Rome that was trod by missionaries of long ago, the envoys of the Holy See scored major triumphs in Eastern Europe last week. First, with the remarkable assent of the Kremlin, Pope John Paul II named a new bishop for Belorussia, a Soviet republic that borders Poland. It was the first such appointment in 63 years; the region's last Catholic bishop was sent to prison in 1927. The Pontiff then named three new bishops and regularized the status of a fourth to give hard-line Czechoslovakia its fullest hierarchy since the Communists launched a postwar effort...

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