LJUBLJANA, Jan 28(Hina) - The Slovene parliament on Wednesday ratified the first agreement with the Holy See regulating the status of the Roman Catholic Church in the country.
LJUBLJANA, Jan 28(Hina) - The Slovene parliament on Wednesday ratified
the first agreement with the Holy See regulating the status of the
Roman Catholic Church in the country.#L#
In the first comment on the ratification, which had been postponed for
a long time, Ljubljana Archbishop Franc Rode said he was pleased and
that he expected it to be the basis for the settlement of other open
issues.
President Janez Drnovsek said the agreement "sets in a completely
concrete way the framework of Church activity in the state, in
accordance with the Constitution and the Constitutional Court's
decision".
The agreement was blocked at the Constitutional Court for two years at
the request of the left-wing parties in the Anton Rop Cabinet which
said it might be contrary to the constitutional principle of keeping
Church and state separate.
The Court decided recently this principle was not violated but
stressed that civil rather than canon law is to be applied in cases
where Church and state interests clash, a wording the Church is not
happiest with.
One of the most important open issues the Church would like to settle
with the agreement is the introduction of religious teaching as a
mandatory elective subject in state schools, something the
Constitution does not envision.
(Hina) ha sb