St Vitus' Transfer Not Concluded (Prague)

Prague- The date of the transfer of St.Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle from the church back to the state has not been set yet, Catholic Bishop Vaclav Maly told journalists after a meeting of representatives of the Presidential Office and the Metropolitan Chapter today.

The representatives of the Presidential Office and the Metropolitan Chapter as representatives of the state and the Catholic Church agreed that they would continue their talks.

Presidential Office spokesman Jiri Weigel said that the topic of the cathedral and the problem of its operation was to be discussed on Friday.

"We try to take the court verdict seriously but the concrete form of cooperation between the Presidential office and the Prague Castle Management is still open," Bishop Maly (pic'd alongside) said. The deadline that would be binding has not yet been set, he said.

Court disputes over the ownership of the cathedral, whose beginnings date back to the 14th century, and the adjoining buildings have drawn out for almost 14 years. Last month the Supreme Court abolished the previous verdict under which the cathedral went to the Church and returned the case to a lower level court, which is to start discussing it on May 3.

Until a new verdict is ruled, the cathedral should return back under state management after being managed by the church for half a year.

"We have discussed neither the court dispute nor the assessment of its verdict, but constructive questions that ensue from the verdict," Weigel said.

"Now it is necessary to take seriously the verdict that is on the desk and certain commitments that ensue from it. They should be discussed, and not the dispute as such," Maly said.

The church will not wait for the delivery of a new sentence, he said.

According to Maly, the entrance fees that the church introduced last autumn after it took over the cathedral were not discussed today.

Previously the Castle administration said that the transfer of the cathedral from the church to the sate would be a simple matter and that the fees would be abolished as of this Wednesday.

Weigel said today that at present the Castle was only the owner of the cathedral de iure and not de facto.

"After we take over the cathedral management we will be able to consider concrete steps." he said.

If an agreement with the church representatives on all the questions had been made today it would have been possible to consider the fees, he said.

"However, the situation is different," Weigel said, adding that the two sides agreed that they would look for an accommodating solution.

Maly today refused to name any date. "We have set stages but we will see according to concrete results of Friday's talks," he said.

Maly did not answer the direct question of whether the church would transfer the cathedral to the state.

The Prague Castle Administration has not questioned the fact that the church interior belongs to the Catholic Church, Maly said.

"This has not been questioned either during the communist era or in the court verdict," he said.

The use of the cathedral interior equipment, its technical and operational maintenance, its financing, cleaning, the guide service and energy and water charges are a "package of questions that should be discussed," Maly said.

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