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Czech Radio marked the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution on Monday with an international conference on the fall of communism in Central Europe and the transformation processes that followed. Aside from leading experts in the fields of economics, political sciences and journalism, the speakers’ list also featured the names of prominent former dissidents and politicians such as Lech Wałęsa, Magdaléna Vášáryová and Václav Klaus.

Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček is set to visit the Vatican during a Czech national pilgrimage to Roma on November 10 and 11. Mr. Petříček, accompanied by a delegation of Senators, is due to meet with diplomatic representatives of the Catholic church.

He is due to hold talks with will hold talks with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Secretary or Relations with States, Paul Richard Gallagher.

The National Pilgrimage to Rome will mark the 30th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Agnes, the 13th century daughter of the King ad Queen of Bohemia.

Former president Václav Klaus, the last surviving Czech RAF pilot Emil Boček, Srbian film director Emir Kusturica and the president of the Supreme Audit Office Miloslav Kala are among the personalities who will receive a high state distinction from President Miloš Zeman on the occasion of Czechoslovak Independence Day, on October 28th.

Although the list of personalities selected for awards is confidential the president himself revealed some of the laureates ahead of the public holiday this year.

According to Prague Castle the laureates have been informed about the honour and the list of selected personalities has been countersigned by the prime minister.

The Constitutional Court has invalidated a controversial law on taxing money returned to churches in compensation for property stolen by the communist regime in the 1950s. The verdict by the highest court in the land is legally binding and there is no further means of appeal.

The new pipe organ for St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague resounded for the first time on Monday in a workshop near Barcelona, in Spain, where the instrument is being built. The pipe organ was commissioned by the Catholic Church and part of its cost, estimated at 80 million crowns, was raised in a public collection.

Cardinal Dominik Duka is facing a criminal investigation, after being accused of covering up a case of sexual abuse in the Dominican Order. The victim, who remains anonymous, told the news site seznam.cz earlier this week that he reported the abuse to Mr.Duka but the cardinal had failed to take action against it.

600 years ago, an angry crowd stormed Prague’s New Town Hall and threw its councillors out of the window. The event, which has since become known as the First Defenestration of Prague on is often seen as the starting point of the Hussite Wars. A brutal religous conflict which saw Bohemia ravaged by civil war, but also created many of the nation’s most remembered victories and characters, which are remembered today in monuments, art and film. To better understand the role of the defenestration and how it came to be, I spoke with Dr. Pavel Soukup,

In a wide-ranging interview at the start of Holy Week, leading up to Easter, the Roman Catholic priest Tomáš Petráček – a leading church and social historian – talks about the pagan, Slavic, communist and Hapsburg influences on the position of the church in Czech society over the centuries, and why, in his mind, painting eggs and pre-Christian fertility rites have a welcome place at Easter alongside the liturgy.

Weeks after his expulsion from the Civic Democrats, anti-EU MP Václav Klaus Jr. has revealed plans to launch a new party following May’s Euro elections. His father, the well-known former prime minister and president Václav Klaus, is set to occupy an honorary role in the new grouping. I discussed the politics and prospects of “Young Klaus” – as many call him in Czech – with political scientist Petr Just.

Pope Francis received the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Radek Vondráček in the Vatican on Friday. Mr. Vondráček travelled to the Vatican together with his Slovak counterpart Andrej Danko on the anniversary of the death of St. Cyril, one of the two missionaries that brought Christianity to the Slavs. The Pope and Mr. Vondráček discussed a treaty between the Czech Republic and the Vatican, which, among other things, sets out the position of the Catholic Church within the Czech Republic.

Mr. Vondráček also took the opportunity to invite the head of the Catholic Church to visit the Czech Republic.