Pope meets Czech premier
(May 25, 2012) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday received in the Vatican prime minister
Petr Necas (Petr Nechas) of the Czech Republic. The two talked for some 20 minutes
in English in private. The Pope was then introduced to an 8-member Czech delegation,
and gifts were exchanged. Nechas gifted the Pope a reproduction of a 9th
century Gospel kept in Prague’s Strahov monastery, which was founded by St. Norbert.
The Pope reciprocated with a medal of his pontificate and a precious pen in the form
of the famous Bernini columns at the papal altar in St. Peter’s Basilica. Nechas
later met Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and Vatican Secretary
for Relations with States Archbishop Dominique Mamberti. A Vatican statement that
during the cordial discussions the Pope’s 2009 visit to the Czech Republic was recalled.
They also talked about “certain themes of mutual interest”. The two sides hoped that
a draft bill on church property, currently being debated in the Czech parliament,
would soon be passed “so as effectively to respect the contribution the Catholic Church
makes to the entire country.” The two sides affirmed their desire to regulate relations
between Church and State by means of an agreement, and expressed their intention of
maintaining regular and constructive dialogue at various institutional levels.
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