Czech cardinal who resisted communism mourned
Church leaders praise ‘a spiritual leader of a zealous, even combative nature’
Catholic leaders in Central Europe paid tribute Tuesday to an outspoken Czech cardinal who was jailed under communism and helped to rebuild the Church after the collapse of the Soviet bloc.
Cardinal Dominik Duka, O.P., who led the Prague archdiocese from 2010 to 2022, died Nov. 4, at the age of 82, days after he was re-admitted to the city’s Central Military Hospital.
Archbishop Josef Nuzík, the president of the Czech bishops’ conference, led the tributes to Duka, who was one of the last living cardinals imprisoned by communists, alongside Albania’s Cardinal Ernest Simoni.
“Under communist dictatorship, he experienced persecution and imprisonment because of his faith, and this experience shaped him into a spiritual leader of a zealous, even combative nature, who stood courageously on the side of truth, yet had a good and friendly heart,” said Nuzík.
“The Church and society have lost an important figure in him.”
Archbishop Bernard Bober, president of the Slovak bishops’ conference, described Duka as a “faithful and unwavering shepherd of the people of God” who “fulfilled his mission as a priest, religious, and bishop with firm faith, courage, and devotion to the Church.”
“Cardinal Dominik Duka dedicated his entire life to the service of truth and freedom. During the socialist regime, he bore witness to Christ with a firmness and wisdom that encouraged many believers,” he said.
Czech political and cultural figures also expressed their condolences.
Andrej Babiš, the billionaire in line to become the Czech Republic’s next prime minister, said Duka was “a man of strong faith who for many years helped shape the spiritual and social life of our country.”
“I liked him very much and enjoyed listening to his kind voice,” he said.
Film director Jiří Strach said he had never met anyone more courageous than Duka.
“He endured all the blows of time and people, communist prisons, injustices, and betrayals with incredible patience and kindness,” he commented. “He knew that the bishopric of St. Adalbert [Prague archdiocese] was a martyr’s seat. He knew how to forgive. He knew how to laugh. He was a true democrat. He loved people and he loved the Czech nation.”
Duka was born on April 26, 1943, in Hradec Králové, Czechoslovakia, a city around 60 miles from Prague.
His father, František, had fled during the Second World War to England, where he provided ground support in a Czechoslovak-manned bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force. After the war and the communists’ seizure of power, František was imprisoned for his military service abroad, an event that left a deep mark on his son.
In 1968, Duka secretly joined the Dominican order, which was then banned in Czechoslovakia. He was ordained a priest in 1970 by Cardinal Štěpán Trochta.
In 1975, the authorities revoked Duka’s state permission to minister as a priest, forcing him to seek employment at a Škoda factory in Plzeň. He continued to perform his priestly duties in secret, organizing underground theology studies and maintaining ties with Dominicans abroad.
He was arrested in 1981 and sentenced to 15 months in jail for “obstructing state supervision over churches.” He stayed in Plzeň-Bory prison, where fellow inmates included the dissident playwright Václav Havel, who would go on to serve as the first president of the post-communist Czech Republic. Duka used the pretext of a chess club to celebrate Mass secretly for prisoners.
After his release, Duka dedicated himself to the renewal of Dominican life in Czechoslovakia as his country transitioned from communism to liberal democracy. He served as head of the order’s local province from 1986 to 1998, when he was named Bishop of Hradec Králové, taking the motto In Spiritu Veritatis (“In the Spirit of Truth”).
After Duka became the Archbishop of Prague and president of the Czech bishops’ conference in 2010, he helped to negotiate a deal to return Church property seized under communism and secure financial compensation. Critics of his tenure in Prague accused him of being too close to political circles and downplaying clerical abuse.
Following his retirement in 2022, at the age of 79, Duka remained an advocate of freedom of expression. When his Twitter account was briefly suspended in 2020, he compared online censorship to communist restrictions in the 1980s, commenting that things were “not much different” today.
“Now, however, on the basis of fictitious statements, it is not man who punishes, but artificial intelligence, led by the crowd to suppress ‘wrong’ ideas,” he wrote.
In one of his last public acts, Duka celebrated a Requiem Mass for the slain U.S. political activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 16, 2025, at a packed Church of Our Lady before Týn in Prague.
The cardinal underwent emergency surgery at Prague’s Central Military Hospital Oct. 6. He had been due to serve as Pope Leo XIV’s special envoy to an Oct. 14 celebration of the centenary of Poland’s Gdańsk archdiocese, but was unable to attend.
He was discharged in late October and resumed his commentary on current affairs. In an Oct. 30 article for Czech online news site iDNES.cz, he welcomed an general audience address by Pope Leo condemning antisemitism.
The Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic paid tribute to the cardinal Nov. 4, saying it “valued his openness to interfaith dialogue and his sensitivity to the themes of the Shoah and the fight against antisemitism.”
Addressing well-wishers following his hospitalization, Duka wrote: “There were moments when I was partially convinced that I would probably never see you again. But thank God I realized that He had given me the opportunity to experience moments of hope with you once again. We can see that the great ice sheet of half-truths, manipulation, and sometimes even lies is breaking in the world.”
“On the other hand, however, we are witnessing that the suffering of war, terrorism, and the wave of absolute brutality are not ending. For us, the words of Jesus should be a challenge — words that lead us to humility, so that we do not see only the speck in the eye of another, but also the large beams in our own eyes, which sometimes obscure our vision.”
After he was readmitted to hospital Nov. 1, the Prague archdiocese said he was in a serious condition and asked for prayers.
Cardinal Duka’s funeral Mass will take place Nov. 15 at Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral.
Thanks, Luke. Mons. Duka admitted me to seminary 18 years ago. He was complex men, not easily summed up in few lines, but you did a great job.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.