Clearing the Air

The celebrated TV ban that Chicago's station WGN imposed on the film Martin Luther after protests by individual Roman Catholics (TIME, Dec. 31) was lifted last week by the intervention of the city's leading Catholic. Samuel Cardinal Stritch. the wise, wiry head of the U.S.'s biggest Catholic archdiocese (1,800,000). Although the diocese's official newspaper condemned the film in emphatic terms ("a hate-provoking movie"), Stritch's office issued a statement affirming "the democratic right" of all faiths to "the honest expression of a religious viewpoint" on TV. The diocese also disclaimed responsibility for the film's cancellation. Hard on the heels of the statement, enterprising station WBKB, which had contemplated showing the film earlier but postponed it when the controversy erupted, announced that on April 23 Chicago TViewers will see Luther at last.

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