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Catholic World News News Feature

Slovakia, Vatican Concordat Still Controversial November 27, 2000

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Nov. 27, 00 (CWNews.com/Keston) - Controversy still surrounds the Slovak state's concordat with the Vatican signed last week, which was four years in preparation and is awaiting ratification by parliament. Prior to governmental approval in mid-August, some media criticized the government for what they claimed was its preferential treatment of the Catholic Church. Catholic representatives have told Keston News Service that the concordat will help other churches secure their rights, but not all agree, some viewing the concordat as a symptom of preferential treatment towards Catholics that the amendment to the religion law guaranteeing religious equality will go only some way to addressing.

Since the end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe, the Holy See has signed concordats defining the position of the Catholic Church within a country with many Eastern European states, most recently-- on November 8-- with Latvia.

According to 1991 census figures, the Catholic Church is Slovakia's largest religious community, with roughly 3.3 million members (out of a total population of roughly 5.3 million), followed by the Augsburg Lutheran Church with over 350,000 members, the Greek Orthodox Church with 180,000 members, and the Reformed Christian Church with over 80,000.

Supporters of the concordat argued that it is an international agreement between states rather than between church and state. Nevertheless, many of the most sensitive points-- financing, education, access to the army and police-- were left out of the final version, with only a declaration that separate agreements on these issues will be signed at a later, unspecified, time.

The spokesman for the Slovak Bishops' Conference, Marian Gavenda, said that fears of discrimination are "unjustified." In his view, the concordat only anchors more firmly relations that already exist, and the "prestige of an international agreement" provides a "certain guarantee"-- for example, if the regime changes. He argues that the more rights and privileges the Catholic Church manages to get at the international level, the better for all churches, since the state must adopt corresponding domestic laws.

Daniela Horinkova, secretary of the Augsburg Lutheran Church, alleges that parts of the concordat discriminate against other churches, for example in the area of education, where she sees a de facto "catholicization" of the school system.

The chairman of the Seventh-Day Adventists, Emmanuel Duda, however, considers the Catholic Church's claim "an opportunistic statement." "I don't see [the concordat] as a positive step. It has given rise to tension," he said. Specifically, Duda points to Article 20, which he feels will guarantee the Catholic Church full financing from the state budget "at the expense of other churches."

The chairman of the Slovak Methodist Church, Pavel Prochazka, said that he does not see the concordat as discriminatory but feels that although the Catholic Church does not receive preferential treatment de jure, de facto it has a privileged position. "But the problem lies elsewhere: if you sign an international agreement with one church and then with others [you discriminate]; if you sign them at the same time, you give them the same worth."