Culture Minister suggests Church should be compensated for confiscated property

Culture Minister Vaclav Jehlicka has suggested that the Church should receive financial compensation for property confiscated by the communist regime that now remains in state or council ownership. Mr. Jehlicka told Tuesday's edition of Pravo that he would meet with Archbishop Jan Graubner to discuss the possibility. According to estimates the overall compensation sum would reach one billion crowns and the culture minister admitted that the state was not in a position to pay a lump sum. He suggested an annual settlement over a longer period of time.