Conflict of Loyalties. Attitudes of the Slovak Episcopate During the Complicated Negotiation of the Modus Vivendi Agreement 1928-1935

Within the framework of conflicts of loyalties, the author analyses the variable attitudes of the Slovak episcopate between 1928 and 1934 towards the complex negotiations regarding the application of the Modus vivendi agreement. In the unstable post-war social, political and economic climate, the Czechoslovak state imposed a sequester on the Slovak ecclesiastical estates. This progressively caused dissatisfaction, scepticism, and distrust amongst Slovak church dignitaries; leading to severe complaints to the Vatican against the Czechoslovak government by representatives of the Catholic Church in Slovakia, led by the Bishop of Spis, Msgr. Jan Vojtassak. The conflict within the state culminated in secret negotiations that took place in December 1932 and June 1934 between the Slovak bishops and the Archbishop of Esztergom Jusztinian Seredi.