Čtvrtek 28. března 2024, svátek má Soňa
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Vatican seen making popular Czech priest Tomáš Halík cardinal

  12:32

Pope Benedict XVI granted Tomáš Halík the title of Monsignor–Honorary Prelate of His Holiness two years ago

foto: © ČTK, REUTERS, ČESKÁ POZICEČeská pozice

Czech Position has closely following the escalating attacks over the last month on the well-known priest Tomáš Halík with the aim of trying to get to find out their cause. That search has come up with the surprising information that Pope Benedikt XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, is looking next year to likely name two new Czech cardinals.

Apart from the chairman of the Czech Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Prague Dominik Duka, papal consideration is also focused on Monsignor Tomáš Halík, a prominent theologian, for this honor.

“Some people close to the Catholic Church and a papacy want one of the new Czech cardinals to be a personality who through his life and works has significantly contributed to modern theology and who could continue in the footsteps of Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík,” a well-informed source told Czech Position, adding that it is extremely likely that Halík will be made a cardinal by the Pope.

‘Some people close to the Catholic Church and a papacy want one of the new Czech cardinals to be a personality who through his life and works has significantly contributed to modern theology and who could continue in the footsteps of Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík.’

In Czech political circles, speculation has mounted that this could be at the source of the recent attacks from those near to President Václav Klaus on Halík, including the questioning by the president’s close collaborator and aide Petr Hájek of the monsignor’s initial ordination as a priest.

By its nature, immediate confirmation of such information is impossible. Halík himself, however, cast doubt on the Papal promotion. “All matters relating to Church nominations and ordinations are conducted whereby all those involved are bound to an oath of secrecy until the official nomination, and a violation of that oath is punishable according to the codex of Church law. Therefore, I don’t think that you could find out anything more than ‘no comment’ or vague guesses from anyone well informed about the matter,” Halík told Czech Position.

But a recapitulation of the recent circumstances in the Catholic Church would appear to suggest that Halík is well suited to follow Špidlík and be ordained as a cardinal. Špidlík died in April 2010 in Rome. The academic and priestly undertakings of the Moravian Jesuit were the reason why former Pope John Paul II in 2003 named him as a cardinal.

An exceptional and charismatic man, Špidlík lived in Rome from 1946 and became one of the foremost experts on the eastern church. John Paul, bearing in mind his Polish origins, had a major role in Špidlík’s elevation in the church hierarchy. Špidlík was a long-time professor at universities in Rome and, as a Catholic intellectual, was an expert advisor to numerous Vatican institutions.

At the moment there is just one Czech cardinal, the almost 80-year-old Cardinal Miloslav Vlk. Cardinals play a role in the church’s administration, advise the papacy on various  issues, and, if they are younger than 80, can elect the pope.

Having studied sociology and philosophy, 63-year-old Halík worked under the communist regime as a company psychologist, later helping those with addicted to drugs. He was ordained into the priesthood in secret in 1978 by bishop Hugo Aufderbeck in Erfurt, in former East Germany, and until the regime was overturned in 1989 was one of the main figures of the Czechoslovak underground church.

Halík currently lectures at Prague’s Charles University Philosophical Faculty and is a priest at the Prague’s central St. Salvator Church, president of the Czech Christian Academy, and a prodigious author. His books have won his many prizes at home and abroad, winning the prize this year for the best theological work published in Europe . In June 2009, Pope Benedikt XVI gave him the title of monsignor, or honorary papal prelate.

Halík is recognized as one of the most significant catholic personalities in the Czech Republic with his sermons regularly attracting halls filled with students and young people. He has fashioned an image of an intellectual who is will to speak out about day to day issues and who is not ambitious to climb the ecclesiastical ladder by becoming a bishop or some other such advancement,  which would probably curb his ability to speak out.

Insiders say that in reality Halík has similar positions and a similar outlook to Archbishop Duka, with the difference that Duka when he speaks out in public must express the established standpoint of the Catholic Church.   

Anti-Klaus

Halík’s commitment to civic society and public declarations have frequently targeted the Czech president and those around him. He attacked for example President Klaus’ comments this year during the St. Wenceslas day commemorations at Stará Boleslav, accusing Klaus of abusing the religious context of the occasion and trying to “suck up” to the church for his own purposes. He issued a clear warning for the church not to get too close to the president and, at the end of November, warned Duka that he was going too far in his moves to please Klaus.

At the time, Duka had made a surprise appearance at the presentation of Klaus’ latest book, which attacks the European Union, with the archbishop permitting himself some comments on the subject which followed in the same spirit as those of the head of state. Such religious intervention in Czech secular and political affairs is extremely unusual.

Why was such statements made? One reason could be that in the current moves over the restitution by the state of confiscated property to religious groups and organizations, with the Catholic Church standing to be the main beneficiary, good relations between the church and head of state, good relations are seen as something that should be strived for by the Prague Archbishop.

Castle counterattack

In a counterattack, Prague Castle mobilized the president’s office’s deputy chancellor, Petr Hájek, who on the web pages of the Czech server Palamentnílisty.cz raised doubts about Halík’s ordination as a priest and professorship (see related article, Catholic schism dragged into Czech political battleground). The Czech Bishops’ Conference has published documents which it says proves the secret ordination of Halík took place.

“The charges of Mr. Hájek have been rebutted and shown to be untrue and without foundation,” Halík commented afterwards. “Perhaps the question should have been asked when the Archbishop of Cologne, Joachim Meisner, came to Prague not long ago whether he had any misgivings about me being a priest,” Halík added. Archbishop Meisner came to Prague as the Pope’s special representative at the start of November.

The scene is thus set for some interesting Vatican watching from the Czech perspective next year with regards to whether the pope appoints both Duka and Halík, one, or neither of them, as new Czech cardinals, or instead opts for someone completely different.

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Velvyslanectví Alžírské demokratické a lidové republiky
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