Czech Republic signs treaty with the Vatican

The Vatican‘s Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Prime Minister Petr Fiala  signed  a treaty between the Czech Republic and the Vatican in Prague on Thursday. The Czech Republic is one of the last European countries to sign a treaty regulating relations with the Vatican. It took two decades to agree on the wording of the treaty which does not address the state's property relations with the Catholic Church. It protects citizens' freedom of religion and legally anchors, for example, clerical services in social and health care institutions or in prisons and the army.