Priest's remorse

One tongue-in-cheek theory states that the Catholic Church is no longer so enthusiastic about church restitution, because it finally realized that after the politicians take their usual 30% tithe, the current method of state funding for the Church will become a sweet memory. Seeming to confirm this was the decision to have Priest Tomáš Halík appear on Události, komentáře on Fri. Instead of heeding Václav Klaus's advice from earlier in the day for the Church and ČSSD to tone down their rhetoric with regard to a controversial new anti-restitution billboard from ČSSD, Halík added oil to fire by saying that much more money has disappeared into the pockets of the corrupters than is at stake in church restitution. He made it sound as if the churches were doing the politicians a favor by agreeing to the restitution law. Halík is a famous Klaus-hater, and anything he says has the same effect on die-hard Klaus supporters as a red flag on a bull. All it takes to kill the bill is for one or two of ODS's MPs to get beet red and to vote No.