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Catholic World News News Feature

Vatican-Czech concordat stalled February 17, 2004

Final ratification of a proposed concordat between the Vatican and the Czech Republic will "require time and patience," a highly placed official in the Secretariat of State has commented, after the text became a topic of political dispute inside the Czech Republic.

President Vaclav Klaus has indicated that he opposes ratification of the concordat as it stands, although many members of the countries' parliament favor it. The concordat was signed in July 2002, but the parliament failed to ratify the text when it was first submitted in May of last year.

Vatican officials profess to be unconcerned by the political dispute, pointing out that an agreement with Poland was similarly stalled, for three years, before finally being approved in 1995. The Secretariat of State is fully prepared to renegotiate the agreement, if necessary, in order to win final approval, sources said.

The official at the Secretariat of State said that opposition to the proposed concordat is based largely on political symbolism rather than substantive disagreement. Some leftist parties resist recognition of the Catholic Church, while other Christian groups have voiced concerns about giving special status to the Pope, as leader of a particular Christian body.