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

The Catholic Church has good relations with the Russian Orthodox Church and is not trying to engage in proselytism, said the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, yesterday, 5 December, in response to the Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II's appeal to the Holy See to stop its "unfriendly" actions toward the Orthodox Church in Russia. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

Russian Patriarch Alexiy II accused the Catholic Church of "hostile policy" and converting the Orthodox believers to the Catholic Church. Such acts can make worse the Orthodox-Catholic negotiations, he said. The Holy See refuses these accusations and says the Catholic Church only takes care of her believers in Russia. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

Father Sami Al-Rais, rector of the major Chaldean Seminary and Moral Theology teacher at the Faculty of Theology, Babel College, in Baghdad, was kidnapped on Monday 4 December 2006. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

The Peace Light of Bethlehem will arrive to Vienna on Saturday 16 December 2006 and Czech Scouts will take it to Brno. The distribution will be provided by regular trains throughout the country on Sunday 17 December. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

After his 10-year service, Father Adrián Zemek OPraem left office of the Vicar General of the diocese of Plzeň (Pilsen). His successor is Father Robert Falkenauer, up to now the bishop's deputy for education and foreign relations. On Friday 8 December at 8 am in St Bartholomew Cathedral in Plzeň, Bishop František Radkovský will celebrate the mass, thank Zemek and welcome the new Vicar General Falkenauer. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

On 4 December, the Holy See Press Office released a communiqué concerning the matter of the construction of a skyscraper near the historic Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Joseph in Bucharest, Romania. Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.