Folia Theologica 9. (1998)

Józef Krukowski: The Issues of the Negotiations of Concordats

FOLIA THEOLOGICA 9 (1998)

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Józef KRUKOWSKI

THE ISSUES OF THE NEGOTIATIONS OF CONCORDATS*

1. Introductory Remarks

Scientific papers concerning concordats are generally written in historical and dogmatic — legal aspects. But the organisers of the present symposium intend to view this issue in a political — legal aspect. The point concerns the problems which must be solved in the negotiations meant to normalise the relations between Church and state in Slovakia in the conditions of present political transformations. This normalisation should refer to the Christian tradition of the Slovak Nation, towards which the Catholic Church has performed its mission for over a thousand years. It should also consider the ambitions of the young Slovak State which is in the process of building a democratic system whose important elements include respecting religious freedom.

Undertaking these problems I have to point out at the very beginning that:

1) I will speak on the basis of experiences provided by a debate around the concordat between the Apostolic See and Poland, in analogous conditions of political transformations;

2) I will discuss these problems on a certain level of abstraction, which means that I will limit my considerations to the fundamental issues which appear during the negotiations concerning the concordat between the Apostolic See and a democratic state in contemporary world;

3) I leave the establishments concerning a project of a specific agreement which should be settled between the Apostolic See and the Republic of Slovakia to the people who ate responsible for the development of relations between the Church and state in this country.

* Text of a lecture given at an international symposium organised by the Association of Slovak Canonists in Spisska Kapitula on 28 Aug., 1997.