Slovenian archbishop predicts concordat will end church-state feuds

Published: 2004-02-10

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The head of Slovenia's Catholic Church has welcomed the approval of a concordat with the Vatican and predicted an end to church-state feuds in the former communist state. "We hope the atmosphere will now change, that anti-clerical hostility will now give way to dialogue, confidence and mutual collaboration," said Archbishop Franc Rode of Ljubljana, president of the Slovenian bishops' conference. "There are still practical problems to be regulated, but with the ice now broken and the biggest obstacles removed, future agreements should become a lot easier." Earlier this year, the Slovenian parliament ratified the concordat, regulating the Catholic Church's legal status after a decade of disputes. In a Feb. 5 telephone interview with Catholic News Service, Archbishop Rode said the document acknowledged Slovenians' "centuries-old link" with the church and gave a positive interpretation to Article 7 of the country's constitution, which declares church and state separate.

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