Feb 04 2009
Pope visit to Prague
Who invited the pope?
image by cutup
So the big news is: We get a papal visit in September, not only to Prague, but also to other parts of the Czech Republic. Pope Benedict XVI seems to be especially interested to visit Moravia. No wonder, as this is the most Roman-Catholic part of this, rather secular, country. Information is a bit scarce at the moment, but I will update this blog whenever I have news. Here’s what I have so far, plus some opinions of yours truly.
Was he invited or did he invite himself?
The PragueMonitor states “The planned visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Czech Republic has been organised on his own initiative, Czech Cardinal Miloslav Vlk told journalists Thursday.” Whilst Radio Praha says: “The initiative came from the Czech Bishops’ Conference.” And Ceske Noviny thinks it was the President himself, writing “that the Pope would these days send a letter to Klaus [President Vaclav Klaus] to answer his invitation to the Czech Republic.”
Why bother at all who invited, you ask? Well, it is important because
1. Bearing in mind his decision to rehabilitate the British Bishop Richard Williamson, who has publicly denied the Holocaust, back into the Catholic Church, he is not only far less popular then his predecessor John Paul II, who visited this country three times, but he has also received harsh critiques from inside and outside the Roman-Catholic Church. Who invites him now, as the scandal is so fresh, sends a message, if he wants or not.
2. The Czech Republic has not yet signed a treaty with the Vatican regarding the position of the Roman Catholic Church in the Czech Republic. The Vatican passed the treaty, which was agreed on during the Social Democrat (CSSD) government of Milos Zeman [prime minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 until 2002], but the Czech parliament rejected it later. A good write up about this, and religious freedom in general, can be found here . In a nutshell it is about property, buildings and land, that were taken away from the Roman-Catholic Church during nazism and communism. The pope is not only the head of the Roman-Catholic Church, he is also the head of the Vatican state. As head of the Church he is interested to get the property back (or a compensation for it) as head of state he is interested in good relationships with other countries. Putting him, and the Czech authorities a bit between all chairs regarding his visit.
What all sources sources I have read agree on, is that Pope Benedict XVI will come in the second half of September 2009 and stay for 2-3 days in the Czech Republic, most likely around September 28, which is St Wenceslas Day. St Wenceslas (Sv. Vaclav) is the patron saint of the Czech Republic . In all cases, I am sure the Czech tourism industry will appreciate the additional stream of visitors that come with a papal visit!
image by wikimedia
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