were approved that limited the definition of what was included by the term 'worship' and sums given for things such as the primate's secretariat, seminaries or Catholic charities were no longer tax exempt. This led to the taxing of church donation money at the same level as private enterprise (65%). At some point, church buildings in the western territories were nationalized as post-German assets, and high rents were charged for their use. Also in 1959, members of religious orders were no longer permitted to become parish priests or administrators, and they were also discharged from service at hospitals, public nurseries, dispensaries and kindergartens. Beginning in 1960, nuns were no longer permitted to study at universities or colleges. Many members of religious orders did also not have their declarations of residence accepted by the state. They generally had their civil rights eroded as the state discriminated against them. The antireligious propaganda failed to find much popularity among the Polish masses. Despite the pressure placed on the church, the number of priests leaving seminaries actually attained higher levels in the 1950s than it had been in the pre-war years. From the 1960s onward Poland developed an increasingly vocal Catholic intelligentsia and an active movement of young Catholics. The "Oasis" movement, was created in the 1960s by Father Franciszek Blachniki, and it consisted of Church activities including pilgrimages, retreats and various ecumenical endeavours. Intense efforts by the state to undermine it failed. During Pope John XXIII's pontificate, the regime successfully bypassed the Polish episcopate by being allowed to directly negotiate with the Vatican, which allowed the government to isolate the Polish episcopate. When Paul VI succeeded him, the new pope required further negotiations to go through the Polish episcopate. In 1965, on the eve of Poland's 1000 year anniversary of its conversion to Christianity, the Polish episcopate made preparation for the event by inviting foreign guests including Pope Paul VI. In its letter to the German bishops, it controversially asked to forget about the past, grant forgiveness to Germans for occurrences during World War II and also asked for Poles to be forgiven for these occurrences too, and stated the Poland had been a bulwark of Christianity; the state took issue with the contents of the letter and it had not been cleared with the state when it was sent. It was declared opposed to the interests of Polish foreign policy. Gomułka stated