(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Dominik Duka, former archbishop of Prague and a steadfast opponent of communist rule in Eastern Europe who suffered persecution for his Catholic faith, passed away early Tuesday. He was 82.
Cardinal Duka was born Jaroslav Václav Duka on April 26, 1943. After the communists seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, the Catholic Church faced brutal repression: priests were jailed or executed, and churches across the country were taken over by the state.
Duka secretly joined the Dominican Order and was ordained in 1970. After refusing to stop living out his priestly ministry, Duka was imprisoned for 15 months in 1981. After the downfall of communism, Duka became the archbishop of Prague, where he championed traditional Catholic beliefs.
In 2015, Duka was one of the eleven cardinals who defended the Church’s traditional moral teaching regarding marriage. He decisively defended the inseparability of marriage when he likened those who divorce and remarry to “cowards.”
“What do we call a person who has not been faithful to his oath [or vow], who has not kept his given word, who does not remain at his post but flees like a coward?” wrote Duka.
“If we speak about the break-up of marriage, we have to realize that this is one of the most profound crises: […] It is a betrayal.”
In 2024, Duka later criticized the Vatican’s silence on communist persecution of Catholics in China, stemming from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“Just as silence and complicity with the communist regime damaged my country and made it easier for the government to imprison dissidents, the Church’s silence in the face of human rights abuses by Communist China harms Catholic life in China,” stated Duka.
Duka also expressed opposition to the Sino-Vatican Deal, which recognized the state-approved religion in China and allowed the CCP to appoint bishops. Standing in solidarity with the persecuted Cardinal Joseph Zen, Duka remarked, “The question of the position of the Catholic Church in China, in light of my experience of persecution under communism, leads me to express some caution.”
“I agree with Cardinal Zen that the Holy See’s unbalanced diplomatic policy towards the Chinese regime can damage the Catholic Church itself.”
As a last living testament, Duka urged the newly elected Pope Leo XIV to prioritize “evangelization” as a means of combating the harmful modern ideology of transgenderism.
“The situation in both parishes and schools is catastrophic, with significant differences between continents,” stated Duka.
“In the Czech Republic, gender ideology is a huge problem in school. This ideology is merely a continuation of Jacobinism and communism.… Those who support it are not open to cooperation.”
Petr Fiala, prime minister of the Czech Republic, released a statement in which he expressed admiration for Duka’s “bravery and activities during the time of totalitarianism and appreciated his important role in the renewal of the church in a democratic society.”
