Prague, July 20 (CTK) – The regional self-rule bodies will assess whether the Catholic Church began to withdraw its property claims against regions, which Czech bishops promised to do, and then they will decide on their further steps, Association of Czech Regions head Michal Hasek said yesterday.
The regional governors talked about the property claims with the cabinet yesterday. They call on the church to also withdraw claims related to its former property now owned by municipalities.
Hasek (Social Democrats, CSSD) said the churches filed 116 claims concerning property owned by regions and most of the claimants are Catholic religious orders.
He said the regions highly appreciated that the Czech Bishops’ Conference recommended that the property claims be withdrawn. The regions will assess the situation at the end of August, he added.
Hasek said the regions consider the church claims unjustified and going contrary to the church restitution law and the state-church property settlement. The regions defend public property and they managed to persuade the Catholic Church that it should not sue them, he said.
“I expect all 116 claims to be withdrawn,” Hasek said.
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, known as the German Order, will reduce the number of complaints filed against regions to answer the bishops’ call, its representative Mikolas Cerny told CTK.
The Association of Czech Regions did not support the proposal for the taxation of the financial compensation that the state paid to churches for unreturned property, submitted by South Bohemia Governor Jiri Zimola (CSSD).
The centre-left cabinet of Bohuslav Sobotka (CSSD) did not take any stance on the proposal. Sobotka said he considered it a populist step taken before the autumn regional elections. Deputy PM Babis supported the proposal.
