Czech Republic
Many larger, more powerful nations have bowed to Vatican presssure and are now trussed up with concordats. The small Czech republic has managed to resist, but for how much longer? The Czechs present a special challenge for the Church, as their nationhood is often defined in terms of resistance to 300 years of rule by the Catholic Austro-Hungarian Empire and their national hero, medieval preacher Jan Hus, was burned at the stake by the Council of Constance in 1415. However, the Vatican has recently launched a charm offensive and already it seems to be bearing fruit.
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Is the Vatican playing “good guy, bad guy” to advance Church interests? |
An archbishop who publically questioned President Vaclav Klaus’ fitness for office has been replaced by one who goes with him on pilgrimages and gives him Christmas gifts. Archbishop Dominik Duka, the “smiling diplomat”, has been in office only a few weeks, but already he has managed to remove a roadblock to the concordat that Klaus once claimed he’d never sign. | |
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Draft concordat (rejected in 2003) |
The Czechs are the last in Central Europe without a concordat. In 2003 their Chamber of Deputies rejected this concordat draft, arguing that it is disadvantageous for the Czech Republic and gives preferential treatment to the Catholic Church. Although the preamble talks about human rights and Vatican II, (both increasingly under attack by the current pope), the body of this concordat contains the usual demands, as listed by Cardinal Tauran. |
