WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — The spokesman for the Czech Catholic bishops’ conference has criticized a Supreme Court judgment confirming that Prague’s historic Catholic cathedral belongs to the state and not the church.

“It’s true that a large part of the public is against giving anything to the church, especially this cathedral,” said the spokesman, Jiri Gracka, March 11. “But this ruling had no juridical or legal basis since the cathedral was never officially confiscated. It all comes down to technicalities.”

Prague’s twin-spired St. Vitus Cathedral, which dominates the city’s skyline, was declared national property by the communist regime in 1954. Although the cathedral was restored to the Catholic Church in 1994, five years after the collapse of communist rule, Czech legislators insisted the gothic building had been built from state funds and launched a series of appeals.