Posted on 11/09/2012 6:31:37 AM PST by marshmallow
The Czech Parliament has approved a plan to return billions of dollars in church properties that were confiscated by the previous Communist regime. The Catholic Church in the Czech Republic has welcomed the deal, after years of negotiations.
Under the legislation, churches will receive lands, properties and compensation worth some $7 billion over a period of 30 years.
It includes about six percent of the country's forests and fields that once belonged to mostly Christian churches.
That land, which was confiscated by the previous Communist regime after 1948, could in future be developed, rented or sold to help pay for the Church's mission.
CHURCH REACTS
In a first reaction statement, Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka said "he is glad" that the in his words painstakingly negotiated compromise on religious restitution was eventually approved" more than two decades after the collapse of Communism.
The vote is viewed as a victory for Prime Minister Peter Necas who fought hard for the return of the church properties in what is viewed as Europe's most atheistic nation
Following events is Tibor Krebsz, the executive director of the Central-European Religious Freedom Institute in Budapest. Krebsz told Vatican Radio that he isn't surprised it took years before the deal was finalized.
(Excerpt) Read more at en.radiovaticana.va ...
Well no $h!t they have!
Finally... Will France ever return church property?
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