Czech Priest Regrets Smashing Halloween Pumpkins But Condemns ‘Satanic Feast’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PRAGUE/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – A Czech Catholic priest has apologized for smashing Halloween pumpkins designed by children near his village church, saying he had been upset about growing satanic influences in his nation.
Priest Jaromir Smejkal wrote an open letter to the local mayor after receiving “verbal abuse” in recent days for his vandalism in Kurdejov, a small community in the Czech Republic’s South Moravia region.
“Leaving the rectory on Sunday evening, I saw numerous symbols of the satanic feast of ‘Halloween’ placed in front of our sacred grounds,” he explained.
“I acted according to my faith and duty to be a father and protector of the children entrusted to me and removed these symbols,” wrote Smejkal, who oversees the local Roman Catholic Church of St John the Baptist.
It comes amid broader church concerns about perceived wrong influences in what has often been crowned the most atheistic country in Europe, sometimes even the world.
The priest said that the modern tradition of Halloween had been conceived in a “heathen, contemporary world” as a counterbalance to the Catholic feast of All Souls’ Day.
However, some children were reportedly close to tears when they were told their creations had been destroyed. New pumpkins were left in the park but were found scattered and stomped on the next day, local media recalled.
PRIEST SAD
The children’s cries apparently left the priest teary-eyed as well. Smejkal stressed that he didn’t want to harm anyone, especially not children. “But try to remember that my duty as a figure of authority and a priest is to protect children and families from hidden evil,” he wrote.
It wasn’t clear how much impact his words had in the nation of over 10 million people, where nearly half of the population claims to be non-religious or atheistic, according to official data.
Yet, with Halloween around the corner, some Czechs say their traditions are being eroded by “highly commercialized imports” from the West, with Halloween being a prime example.
And despite its reputation, traditional religious feasts such as All Souls’ Day remain popular among believers and atheists, church watchers noticed.
The relatively significant presence of atheism in the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, has been partly linked to its decades of occupation by then-Communist-led Soviet Union forces.
In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution ended communist Soviet rule in the country and eventually restored democracy.
On December 31, 1992, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who eventually joined the European Union and NATO military alliance.
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