Group of senators proposes review of recently signed Czech-Vatican treaty

SEN 21 and Piráti, a group within the Czech Senate, are preparing a proposal for the Constitutional Court to review the recently approved Czech-Vatican treaty, a document that was twenty-two years in the making. According to the group's chairman, Václav Láska, the treaty contains a number of fundamental problems that the court should answer, concerning, for example, equality of rights, and should be on the agenda of the January meeting of the Senate.

If the Czech Parliament approves the treaty and it then receives presidential ratification, Czechia will join sixty-four other countries with similar agreements with the Vatican. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the treaty, which was signed in October, was prepared in a minimalist version. According to Mr. Láska, the current document is unbalanced, and the Constitutional Court should review whether it does not introduce inequality between different Churches or, conversely, does not allow unregistered Churches. In an open letter, victims of sexual abuse in the Church have called on the Czech state not to conclude the agreement with the Vatican, being concerned by the wording on the secrecy of confessions.