Václav Malý (born 21 September 1950 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) is a Czech

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest and a prominent persona of the 1989

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

. He is a

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Marcelliana and

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Prague.

Early life

Václav Malý studied at the Roman Catholic Saints Cyril and Methodius Faculty in

Litoměřice Litoměřice (; ) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument reservation. The town is the seat of the Roman C ...

(since 1990 part of the Roman Catholic Theological Faculty of the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

) from 1969 to 1976. He was ordained a priest on 26 June 1976.

Political activities

During the communist regime period in Czechoslovakia, prior to the

Velvet revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

in 1989, Václav Malý was a signatory of

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members ...

and, in 1978, a founding member of the

Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted (; as a result the acronym VONS is used) was a Czechoslovak dissident organization founded largely by Charter 77 signatories. VONS was founded on 27 April 1978. Founding and political aims ...

. In January 1979, he was officially forbidden from exercising his activity as a priest and was imprisoned without trial from May to December 1979. From 1980 to 1989 he worked as a fireman and surveyor, while secretly continuing to minister as a priest and participating in the creation of a Catholic

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

. In 1989, during the Velvet Revolution, he was one of the main spokesmen for the

Civic Forum The Civic Forum (, OF) was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence ( – VPN). The Civic Forum's purpo ...

and a member of the opposition delegation during the negotiations with the government of

Ladislav Adamec Ladislav Adamec (10 September 1926 – 14 April 2007) was a Czechoslovak communist politician. Early life Adamec was born in Moravia on 10 September 1926. From 1958 to 1961 he studied at the Political College of the Central Committee of th ...

. During the 4 December 1989 mass demonstration in

Wenceslas Square Wenceslas Square (Czech language, Czech: , colloquially ''Václavák'' ; German language, German: ''Wenzelsplatz'') is one of the main city squares and the centre of the business and cultural communities in the New Town, Prague, New Town of Pr ...

, he publicly read out the Civic Forum statement demanding free elections the following year and the immediate formation of a coalition government. In November 2021,

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

, the president of France, awarded Václv Malý with the highest French order of merit, the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, for his personal commitment to human rights. Václav Malý received the order at the French Embassy in Prague.

Ecclesiastical career

Václav Malý was appointed auxiliary bishop of Prague on 11 January 1997.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maly, Vaclav 1950 births Living people Clergy from Prague Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Knights of the Legion of Honour Czechoslovak Roman Catholic priests 20th-century Czech Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Czech Roman Catholic priests