The Culture Ministry and experts in church affairs have conceded that changes in the way that the Catholic Church is financed would have to be approved by the Church, according to a report in the Pravda daily. Even though the recent referendum on the 'protection of family' appeared to indicate that Slovakia is a secular rather than a Catholic country, lawyer Katarína Zavacká points out that Pope Francis would have to give the green light to any fundamental changes in this area because Slovakia has a special treaty with the Vatican signed in 2000. Last year, Slovakia's 18 registered Churches and other religious communities received more than €38 million in state funds, with the Catholic Church getting more than €22 million of that sum. At the moment, state finances are calculated according to the size of clergy. The Culture Ministry has drawn up two other options that should be considered. One is for a special tax assignment by which only a Church's own members would contribute towards its financing. The other is for money to be paid according to the number of Church members. Culture Ministry spokesman Jozef Bednár has noted that the Catholic Church would prefer to keep the system as it is. The Church itself is unwilling to comment on the matter.
Church analyst Jaroslav Šebek noted that the Catholic Church still hasn't published an inventory of its property. According to him, its failure to motivate people to vote in the recent referendum has put it in a weaker position. History of law expert Katarína Zavacká thinks that if the Government wants to do anything about the current system it will have to take the bull by the horns and work towards having the Treaty with the Vatican scrapped by Parliament. Apart from access to state funds, the treaty gives the Church the right to have its church services aired by public broadcaster RTVS, to perform religious rites in the armed forces and police force and to introduce religious education in schools.
