Lithuania's Roman Catholic cardinal has called for independence for the Soviet republic and said the church there is still not free, it was reported Wednesday. Cardinal Vincentas Sladkevicius told the weekly Roman Catholic magazine Il Sabato that he did not want to create problems for Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, but Lithuanians would not accept the Soviet occupation of the Baltic land. ``We say this only: let perestroika go its way, and let us go ours,'' the cardinal said. ``The church has promoted for more than 50 years the cause of national independence, and it will continue to do so. The annexation of 1939 is based on a villanous pact between the Soviets and Nazis, it cannot be defended in any way on the legal plane. Even Moscow has recognized this. We want to separate from the Soviet Union,'' Sladkevicius said, according to the excerpts of the interview released in advance by the magazine. The cardinal said a law on conscience being prepared by Soviet officials was new ``only in name'' and that ``the church in Lithuania is not yet free,'' the magazine reported. Lithuania, an independent country before World War II, was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and has been considered a stronghold of nationalism. An estimated 2.5 million people, or 80 percent of Lithuania's population, are Roman Catholics.
