Association of Catholic Clergy Pacem in Terris (

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

: ''Sdružení katolických duchovních Pacem in terris'', Slovak: ''Združenie katolíckych duchovných Pacem in terris''), abbreviated SKD PiT or simply PiT, was a regime-sponsored organisation of

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Communist Czechoslovakia The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, ČSSR, formerly known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic or Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 to 29 March 1990, when it was renamed the Czechoslovak ...

between 1971 and 1989. Its name was taken from the well-known encyclical '' Pacem in terris'' of the reform

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

. SKD PiT was registered on August 1, 1971, and its stated purposes were 'peace in the world' and 'friendship between nations'. But in fact its ''raison d'être'' was rather to control and spy on the clergy and influence the life of the whole church. Its founding assembly was held in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

on August 31, 1971. In the 1970s, its role in the Czech and Slovak Catholic church was not endangered by the official leadership of the church, who did not approve of the Association but could do almost nothing to prevent its actions. The situation changed slowly after the new

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, who came from a communist country, was elected in 1978 and adopted a more principled course against communists. The most important papal document here is ''Quidam episcopi'' from 1982, prohibiting membership in political organizations to priests. The Prague archbishop František Tomášek followed the pope and prohibited membership in SKD PiT to his priests. SKD PiT started to weaken in the 1980s and collapsed immediately after the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

in November 1989. The official dismantling of the organization was dated December 7 and announced on December 11, 1989 to Tomášek.

External links

The founding document of SKD PiT

Other sources

Chronology of the Velvet revolution

Martin Vaňáč about the end of the SKD PiT

Organizations based in Czechoslovakia 20th-century Catholicism Catholic organizations established in the 20th century Catholicism and far-left politics {{Czechoslovakia-stub