Borg Olivier set 21 September as Malta's Independence Day. Independence was part of a package which included retaining British defence facilities for ten years and financial aid to the tune of £51 million. NATO's Mediterranean branch headquarters, just outside Valletta, was also retained, ensuring that Malta would remain in the Western sphere of influence, while British and NATO forces would continue to benefit from the islands' strategic location. On Independence Day, 21 September 1964, the degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) was conferred on Borg Olivier by the Royal University of Malta. In November 1964, he was received by Pope Paul VI and made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX. Independent Malta In March 1965, he became Minister of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in addition to his duties as Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Planning and Finance. In the General Elections held in March 1966, the Nationalist Party was again returned to power with Borg Olivier as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. On 14 June 1968, Borg Olivier was decorated with the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Malta by the Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. Borg Olivier's family affairs, which were somewhat disturbed, soon fell under public scrutiny. The marital relationship of the Borg Olivier couple began to be used by all his political opponents as a source of criticism. These scandals were part of the political rhetoric of the 1960s. The Maltese church's teachings still played a cardinal role in local politics. Borg Olivier had jumped on the Church's bandwagon, grasping a substantial political advantage from the Church's excommunication of the Maltese Labour Party. Borg Olivier did not agree with the Church's position, yet he still capitalised on the situation and gave sterling support to the Church's authorities. The introduction of Labour newspapers in public hospitals was banned, a decision later revoked by the courts, while excommunicated citizens were forbidden from being buried in their family graves in public cemeteries. The abuse of Maltese children who had been sent to Australia on the initiative of the Maltese church was another scandal which rocked the country. Leader of the Opposition (1971–1977) As the 1960s came to a close, an economy reeling from over-reliance on construction and labour troubles at the Dockyards endangered Borg Olivier's administration.