Czech court rules Vatican concordat unconstitutional

Judge Zdenek Kühn emphasised that the state’s neutrality regarding religions was ‘not a mere declaratory principle’ but a significant metric.

The Constitutional Court in Prague barred the ratification of the concordat between the Czech Republic and the Holy See.

Although the judges said the treaty did not deny the sovereignty of the state and the separation of Church and state, they rejected specific aspects of the concordat as incompatible with the state’s constitutional neutrality with regard to religion in a secular state.

The court upheld most of the statutes of the concordat, including freedom of religion and conscience, the Church’s right to self-governance and the right to establish Catholic schools and charities. They rejected the critics’ demand for the Holy See to recognise civil marriages or same-sex adoptions.

Judge Zdenek Kühn emphasised that the state’s neutrality regarding religions was “not a mere declaratory principle” but a significant metric. The state may co-operate with the churches but may not single out one of them.

The judgment also made specific reference to the seal of the confessional and regulations with regard to cultural heritage and church archives, which could preclude the state’s responsibility to guarantee access to important historical sources. The court concluded that religious norms must not count for more than secular ones.

The treaty was signed in October 2024 by then prime minister Petr Fiala and the Holy See’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Both houses of parliament approved the text but President Petr Pavel refused to sign it into Czech law after critics opened a case with the constitutional court.

Following the ruling, Prime Minister Andrej Babis signalled that his coalition government, which includes the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy Party, would accept the decision and look for new ways forward.

Marek Benda from the opposition Civic Democratic Party said: “I am sorry that the supreme court chose too positivistic a reading of the constitution. In our country this interpretation is really ahistoric.”

The Czech Catholic Bishops’ Conference said it respected the role of the Supreme Court in providing the definitive interpretation of the constitution and it was positive that the court had not rejected the idea of a treaty with the Holy See outright.

While the bishops did not agree with the specific interpretation of the law in this case, they said they accepted the decision as binding.

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