In recent days the cardinals and presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Central Europe – Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia – met in Prague for a two-day meeting dedicated to a discussion of the experience of Church-State relations in post-Communist countries. At the start of the meeting the participants described the situation in the individual countries. Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, Archbishop of Prague, recalled the similar event held in Warsaw in 1990 and added: “Today, 17 years later, we intend once again to compare the situation and try to find other ways of solving the similar problems we are facing”. Archbishop Jan Graubner of Olomouc, President of the Czech Bishops’ Conference, recalled the Central European Kirchentag (Convention) in 2003-2004 in which the faithful of eight countries had exchanged their respective experiences and hoped for the continuation of this cooperation. The meeting in Prague was also attended by Cardinal Peter Erdo, President of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference and President of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), Cardinal Josip Bozanic, President of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference and Vice-President of CCEE, Mons. Frantisek Tondra, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Slovakia, and Mons. Alojzij Uran, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Slovenia. The absence of Polish representatives was due to the festivities for the feast-day of Mary Queen of Poland on 3 May and the opening of the plenary of the Polish Bishops’ Conference. The bishops, in debating the theme of the meeting, recognized some similarities in the various situations of the Church and media in their respective countries. They agreed there was no need to respond to all the attacks and accusations made against the Church since that would only serve to publicize them further. The Catholic media, whose number is growing, were called to show greater incisiveness and wider diffusion.
