The main opposition party in the Slovak Parliament, Progressive Slovakia, has questioned aspects of the Basic Agreement with the Holy See signed on Nov. 24, 2000. <\/p>\n
The critique came shortly after the visit of Archbishop Paul Gallagher, secretary for relations with states of the Holy See, to the Central European country to mark the 25th anniversary of the accord.<\/p>\n
According to the progressives, the state should not have a special contract with one church. They argue that the contract is costly financially and in terms of obligations \u2014 for instance, the teaching of religion in public schools is state-funded, but its contents are determined by the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
Other churches should be offered a similar option, progressive member of the Parliament Ondrej Prostredn\u00edk proposed. Yet it would not be a solution, as \u201cthere are many different groups of believers\u201d currently \u201cexcluded from this right to have, for example, such activities in public schools,\u201d continued the politician, who served as dean of the Evangelical Faculty of Theology (Lutheran) of Comenius University in Bratislava.<\/p>\n
In response, the Slovak Bishops\u2019 Conference underscored that the accord \u201cis not about privileges,\u201d as it ensures a legal framework and \u201cclear rules for cooperation between the state and the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this way, the Catholic Church can \u201cfreely fulfill its mission in service to the common good of not only believers, but all citizens\u201d in areas such as \u201ceducation, social solidarity, health care, culture, protection of human dignity,\u201d the Slovak episcopate explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cA democratic state should not ignore the spiritual and religious dimension in society,\u201d the Catholic bishops stressed, adding that \u201cstable and correct relations between institutions contribute to social cohesion and a culture of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n During his visit to Slovakia last weekend, Gallagher described Holy See\u2013Slovakia relations as \u201cvery positive,\u201d also thanks to the agreement. He recalled that \u201csome provisions still require further implementation and interpretation.\u201d<\/p>\n Mainly conscientious objection has not been applied, said Archbishop Cyril Vasi\u013e, eparch of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Ko\u0161ice. The prelate warned about a \u201ctendency in some countries to weaken this principle\u201d when they propose \u201cnew claims as rights,\u201d which \u201ccreates moral and sometimes even labor-law pressure\u201d on medical staff \u201cto participate in procedures that are contrary to their moral convictions or professional ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n The 2000 Basic Agreement regulates various aspects of the Catholic Church\u2019s life and legal status in the Slovak Republic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The main opposition party in the Slovak Parliament, Progressive Slovakia, has questioned aspects of the Basic Agreement with the Holy See signed on Nov. 24, 2000. The critique came shortly after the visit of Archbishop Paul Gallagher, secretary for relations with states of the Holy See, to the Central European country to mark the 25th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":37440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"bron":[41],"class_list":["post-37439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nieuws","bron-cna"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/37439-why-slovak-bishops-are-defending-25-year-old-agreement-with-holy-see-300x200.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/37439-why-slovak-bishops-are-defending-25-year-old-agreement-with-holy-see-150x150.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/37439-why-slovak-bishops-are-defending-25-year-old-agreement-with-holy-see-768x512.jpg","Inhoud breed":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/37439-why-slovak-bishops-are-defending-25-year-old-agreement-with-holy-see-860x573.jpg","echo_preview_image":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/37439-why-slovak-bishops-are-defending-25-year-old-agreement-with-holy-see-219x146.jpg"},"appp_media":null,"yoast_head":"\n