Date for hand-over of St. Vitus not set

Prague Castle Administration and Catholic Church dignitaries on Tuesday failed to agree on the hand-over of St. Vitus Cathedral back into state hands. The Church was expected to relinquish its rights to the Cathedral after the Supreme Court overturned a ruling by the Prague City Court last June which gave the Church ownership rights. Cardinal Miloslav Vlk argued however that the Supreme Court had not specifically ordered a transfer, merely invalidated all former rulings on the case. The Cardinal said that he did not consider this verdict final and was considering taking the battle to a European Court. Another round of talks is to be held on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court's spokesman Petr Knotig said the Catholic Church was misinterpreting the ruling and that it should hand over St. Vitus to the Prague Castle Administration without further delay.