Ex-dissident Bishop Jiří Paďour dies at 72

One-time dissident Bishop Jiří Paďour has died at the age of 72. Padour studied acting in Prague in the 1960s, when he got to know Václav Havel, and directing in France, where he decided to join the church and returned to Czechoslovakia. After coming into conflict with the Communist authorities he was stripped of his license to minister and forced to work as a cleaner, though he secretly joined the Capuchin order. He became a leading figure in the Czech Roman Catholic Church following the 1989 Velvet Revolution.

Author: Ian Willoughby