Vatican and Czech relations still not clearly defined
The position of the Catholic Church in Czech society has been controversial throughout history - even as way back as the fifteenth-century Hussite Wars. Much later, in the era of the first democratic Czechoslovak Republic, anti-Catholic sentiments also strongly resounded, and then the Communist regime heavily persecuted the Catholic Church. The result of Wednesday's parliamentary session about a proposed treaty between the Holy See and the Czech Republic certainly doesn't make things easier for the Catholic Church here.
"If it's a religious marriage in a church, then the church does not recognize divorces or it acknowledges the relationship ex tunc as if the marriage had never taken place. But that complicates property claims within the family concerned."
Of an entirely different view is Father Daniel Herman, the spokesman for the Czech Bishops' Conference, who believes that Parliament's decision places the Czech Republic in an isolated position.
"I am convinced that it won't have a crucial influence on parochial life or on the life of the average worshipper. Instead it is a shame on the international legal level."
The proposal had been in the making for the last two years, and with Minister of Foreign Affairs Cyril Svoboda asserting that the Czech Republic isn't considering opening further negotiations now, it seems that the matter may be a closed issue.
