Minister Svoboda says believers should help the Church

Cabinet minister Cyril Svoboda, who heads the government's legislative council, has proposed that all Catholics in the country should send one percent of their monthly income to the Czech Catholic Church which would help it to become independent from the state. The minister outlined the proposal in an interview for Saturday's edition of Mlada Fronta Dnes. It comes in reaction to drawn-out disputes about the restitution of church property that was confiscated by the Communists after 1948. Several church-restitution bills have been debated in Parliament since the early 1990's but none was approved. The restitution of church property and the role of the Church in the Czech Republic remains a sensitive issue.