Pope to visit Czech Republic
in September 2009
Prague - Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected in April 2005, will pay his first visit to the Czech Republic in September 2009, Prague Archbishop Cardinal Miloslav Vlk confirmed to the Aktualne.cz server.
The Pope is to spend about three days in the country, the server reported.
Vlk did not elaborate, saying the preparations of the visit are still being discussed.
"The Vatican publishes all information about such visits only after the preparation is completed," Vlk told the server.
The Czech Catholics have been striving for the Pope's visit for long.
The Czech Bishops' Conference invited him last January. According to a CTK source, the visit was also debated this November.
The Vatican must receive a written invitation from President Vaclav Klaus to launch negotiations about the Pope's visit.
Ladislav Mravec, from the Presidential Office, said the Vatican had already received both invitations, from the president and from the Bishops' Conference.
The Czech Republic has not yet signed a treaty with the Vatican that is to modify the position of the Roman and Graeco Catholic churches in the Czech Republic.
The Vatican passed the treaty, but the Czech Republic did not adopt it, Pavel Vosalik, Czech ambassador to the Vatican, said.
The treaty was agreed on during the Social Democrat (CSSD) government of Milos Zeman. Though it was signed in 2002, its ratification process has not yet been completed as the Chamber of Deputies rejected it in the following year.
Deputies argued that the treaty was disadvantageous for the state and that it violated the equal position of churches.
The Czech stance stirred up indignation in the Vatican.
Vlk told Aktualne.cz that the Czech-Vatican treaty might be re-opened and signed next year.
Benedict XVI's predecessor, John Paul II, visited the Czech Republic in 1995 and 1997, and in 1990 he paid a visit to the former Czechoslovakia.
Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz
GOSH, MAKLARA! WHAT A DOUBLE CHRISTMAS TREAT FOR THE FORUM!
First,
a real scoop about the Pope's trip to the Czech Republic -
And then, hearing from you again!
I was wondering how busy you might be these days and thought about you during the last international Rosary telecast with the Pope, since you had been a participant in 2007....
Anyway, thank you and welcome back - I am sure I say this for all your friends in the Forum - and I hope this means you have some time for the Forum again.
Have a blessed Christmas, and say a prayer for Papino and for the Forum to the Infant Jesus of Prague.
TERESA
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Teresa, thank you for such invitation. Yes, I'm quite busy but I believe I'll visit and participate our forum more often than in previous months.
Marketa
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/12/2008 13:42]