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Cover
story Would the Vatican allow it?
By MARGOT PATTERSON
Special to the National Catholic Reporter Prague, Czech
Republic
Should Tomás Halík be
elected president of the Czech Republic, its hard to think the Vatican
would allow him to serve. Rome banned priests in government in Central America
during the period of the Nicaraguan revolution and forced Fr. Robert Drinan to
retire from the U.S. Congress in 1981. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, recently
reelected president of Haiti, left the priesthood after being forced to choose
between his sacramental office and his political career.
Still, its not completely unprecedented for priests in the
Czech Republic or former Czechoslovakia to hold political office.
In the Václav Klaus government of 1992-1996, a Catholic
priest, Petr Pitha, served as minister of education. The Holy See took the
position then that if the local church believed that the priest occupying the
office was doing so for the prosperity and benefit of the country, it would not
stand in the way, said Daniel Herman, spokesman for the Czech bishops
conference.
Other experiences have been more negative, however. Herman points
to the example of Josef Plouhar, a minister of health for the communists during
the 1960s who was excommunicated by Rome, and Josef Tiso. In 1939, Tiso, a
Catholic priest, became head of state of the Free Slovak Republic, which broke
off from Czechslovakia in 1939 and became a German satellite state during World
War II. The Free Slovak state was formed March 14, 1939, one day before
Hitlers troops marched into what was left of Czechoslovakia to occupy
Bohemia and Moravia. Following the war, Tiso was executed as a
collaborator.
What the Vatican would do if Halík was elected president
remains to be seen, but the signals are that the Czech church at any rate would
not oppose Halíks taking office. He is said to enjoy a cordial
relationship with Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, archbishop of Prague, who was also a
priest during the difficult days of communism. (Vlk worked as a window washer,
a common employment for Czech priests during that period.) The cardinal uses
Halík as one of his advisors, and the two of them are on a first-name
basis.
For now the Czech church takes a low-key approach to a situation
still only a remote possibility. Its not the normal duty of a
priest to serve in office. In extraordinary circumstances it could be
allowed, said Herman.
National Catholic Reporter, February 9,
2001
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