Czechs Cool To Church As Pope Plans Return Protestants Object To Canonization Of 17th-Century Jesuit

Pope John Paul II visits this historically secular nation amid government resistance to returning church property and Protestants’ objections to plans to canonize a 17th-century Jesuit.

Tens of thousands of Czechs and believers from neighboring countries are expected to attend an open-air Mass at Prague’s Strahov stadium on the first day of the pope’s visit Saturday.

John Paul’s first trip to then-Czechoslovakia in April 1990 celebrated the end of communism and symbolized regained freedom of religion.

The church frequently claimed under communism that 70 percent of Czechoslovaks were Catholic. But while Slovaks are heavily Catholic, just 20 percent of the 10 million Czechs say they are Catholic, according to a September 1994 poll for the liberal weekly Respekt.

Other churches claimed 3 percent membership, but the overwhelming majority of people claimed no religious affiliation, the poll said.

On Sunday, the pontiff plans to canonize 17th-century Jesuit Jan Sarkandr, who played a prominent role in the Counter-Reformation and died in prison, and a Catholic noblewoman in Olomouc.

For non-Catholics, Sarkandr symbolizes the often violent reCatholicization of Protestant Czechs.

Pavel Smetana, head of the Ecumenical Council of Churches and a Czech Protestant, protested the canonization in a letter to the Vatican in which he called Sarkandr a “tool of a violent totalitarian system.” He said he would boycott papal festivities.

Sarkandr was suspected of helping Catholic foreigners and organizing military raids during the antiCatholic uprising in 1620.

The pope will take up the restitution of church property seized by the Communists after the 1948 takeover during a meeting Monday with Premier Vaclav Klaus.

The Roman Catholic church obtained about 250 churches and other religious buildings after the fall of communism in 1989.

But it has not received other property because the law says stateheld property can be returned to individuals, not organizations.