Mass served in honour of murdered priest Josef Toufar

Several thousand people have attended a special mass served in honour of the priest Josef Toufar who was murdered by the communist secret police in the 1950s. Toufar died following injuries sustained during his interrogation at the beginning of 1950. Police wanted to force him to admit that he had staged a ‘miracle' at his parish church in Čihošť. The mass was celebrated by the bishop of Hradec Králové, Jan Vokál, ijn the presence of Cardinal Dominik Duka. The two-day event in Číhošť culminated by the burial of Toufar's remains, found at a mass grave in Prague's Ďáblice cemetary last year, at the local church. Toufar's beatification, initiated by the Hradec Králové diocese, should start later this year.