The Czech Republic is still without an agreement with the Vatican. The concordat is contrary to the constitution
2026-04-06 14:00
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2026-04-06 14:00
The Czech Constitutional Court (US) ruled on Wednesday that part of the international agreement between the Czech Republic and the Vatican is contrary to the domestic constitutional order, making it impossible to complete the ratification of the agreement. Problematic issues concern the secrecy of confession and access to church archives.
The court noted that the agreement states that “the Czech Republic recognizes the secrecy of confession,” without further explanation. According to the Tax Office, this provides the Catholic Church with a privileged position and absolute protection of the secret of confession. In other Churches, the protection of similar rights is limited and resembles attorney-client privilege.
Another controversial point of the agreement states that church legal entities will make their cultural heritage available to researchers, but on terms that they determine themselves.
In this way, they receive a powerful tool to prevent access to their documents or archives, the court emphasized.
According to the Tax Office, ratification of the document cannot be completed without removing the contradictions, e.g. through further negotiations. The judges had been working on the deal for a year. It was sent to the US by a group of senators, and Czech President Petr Pavel also raised objections.
This is another attempt to conclude a concordat. In 2003, the parliament did not consent to ratification, considering that the agreement violated the equality of churches in the Czech Republic. Negotiations on the new wording of the agreement ended in 2024. The then Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, signed the agreement and the government sent it for ratification. It should end with the president's signature, but – according to the US ruling – he cannot sign it.
The Czech Republic is one of the last European countries that does not have relations with the Vatican regulated by an agreement. (PAP)
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