Duka performs mass marking 65th anniversary of death of priest accused of staging miracle

The head of the Czech Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Dominik Duka, on Sunday performed a mass at the Church of the Ascension in Číhošť in the Vysočina Region in honour of local priest Josef Toufar, who died after being tortured by the communist secret police. This coming Wednesday will be the 65th anniversary of the death of Toufar, who was accused of staging a miracle at the church and forced to appear in a filmed “reenactment”. Cardinal Duka told journalists that he believed the priest would be beatified, but could not estimate how long the process might take.

Author: Ian Willoughby