Liechtenstein bill would remove Catholic Church's official status

Published: 2007-12-06

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Liechtenstein's government has introduced legislation that would remove the Catholic Church as the country's official church. "This should be seen as a natural development," the spokeswoman for Liechtenstein's government, Gerlinde Manz-Christ, said in a Dec. 4 telephone interview with Catholic News Service. "We need to clear things up in areas from tax covenants to church ownership. That's why we've consulted all relevant stakeholders and think we've found a satisfactory solution," she said. The Catholic Church's status as "national church" would be ended under the Religion Act, introduced in early November in Liechtenstein's 25-member Landtag, or parliament, by Prime Minister Otmar Hasler. However, Msgr. Markus Walser, vicar general of the Vaduz Archdiocese, said Archbishop Wolfgang Haas had not been notified of the planned reform.

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