Catholic Church in the Czech Republic Website provided by Czech Bishop Conference

Pope Francis has appointed Msgr. Zdenek Wasserbauer, current vicar general of the Archdiocese Prague, the new auxiliary bishop for the archdiocese. The appointment has been announced today, Jan. 23, 2018, during the 112th plenary meeting of the Czech Bishops’ Conference, by Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza.

On Oct. 23–25, 2017, the 111th plenary meeting of the Czech Bishops’ Conference took place in the Archbishop’s Palace in Prague. The participants discussed several issues of the life of the Church, met with directors of the diocesan Charities and attended a study day focused on Church schools, catechesis, and religious education.

Antonín Basler and Josef Nuzík are new auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Olomouc. Having been appointed by Pope Francis in early July this year, they were ordained on Oct. 14, 2017, in the cathedral of St. Wenceslaus by Archbishop Jan Graubner.

During the mass that took place in Stará Boleslav, where St. Wenceslaus had been killed in the 10th century, thousands of pilgrims celebrated on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, the feast of this saint, venerated as a patron saint of the Czech nation. In the end of the liturgy, three awards of Pope Francis and one of the Czech Bishops’ Conference were conferred.

Representatives of the Czech Catholic Church decided to help people in the areas devastated by Hurricane Harvey. They offered the sum of USD 24,000 to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston as a help for people affected by the disaster.

The Czech Bishops' Conference has supported an initiative for the release and to get current information in the case of Chinese Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin; at the same time, the Czech bishops appreciated the efforts of Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun aimed at improvement of the situation of the Chinese Catholics. Full text of the appeal is given below.

On July 6–7, 2017, the 110th plenary meeting of the Czech Bishops’ Conference took place in Velehrad. The participants supported the Catholics in China, invited people to the National Pilgrimage to Fatima and planned how to develop a long-term cooperation with municipalities.

Some 30 thousand people gathered on July 5, 2017, in Velehrad to celebrate the solemnity of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patron saints of the Czech Republic and Europe. The mass was presided over by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops.

During the celebration of the National Pilgrimage to Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Velehrad on July 5, 2017, the names of two new auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Olomouc were announced. Pope Francis appointed to the office Father Antonín Basler, chancellor of the diocese, and Msgr. Josef Nuzík, vicar general.

This, already ninth year will offer a varied cultural and spiritual program organized by thousands of volunteers from different parishes. “Almost three thousand churches will open just in Prague and central Bohemia,” Michal Němeček, director of the Prague Archbishopric Pastoral centre says and ads that the interest in the Church Night is immense: Last year we noted around 130 thousand visitor entrances in central Bohemia, in the entire Czech republic about half million incomings.

On Wednesday, May 31, 2017, in Rome, Pope Francis blesses the painting of Our Lady of Lidice, created by Czech painter Zdirad Čech. At the same time, the Holy Father met Veronika Rýmonová, a survival of the Lidice massacre, as a part of the commemoration of the tragedy’s 75th anniversary.

An unprecedented event took place in the cathedral of the Holy Savior in Ostrava on Sunday, May 28, 2017: Msgr. Martin David, the very first auxiliary bishop for the diocese of Ostrava-Opava, received episcopal ordination.