Compatibility of concordats with democratic constitutions : case study of Slovakia

Abstract

The thesis is focused on the question of compatibility of concordats with democratic constitutions. Roman Catholic religion represented by the Holy See as the head of Vatican City State is the only religion with international personality that provides means to inter alia conclude international treaties with other states. These treaties usually aim at securing rights of the Church and her members to govern themselves in particular country independently from the government. However, concordats can regulate also religious freedom for Roman Catholic believers and even some other rights. One such example is a proposed Draft Treaty between the Slovak Republic and the Holy See on the Right to Exercise Objection of Conscience. Despite the fact that this treaty guarantees the exercise of conscientious objection to everyone, such claim has to be based on Roman Catholic teaching on faith and morals. In addition, exercise of this right is insufficiently limited. Therefore, if adopted, the Draft Treaty will result in violation of a guarantee of fundamental rights principle of legally consistent state as well as state´s obligations undertaken by ratification of international human rights treaties. In addition, regulation of exercise of conscientious objection as proposed by the Draft Treaty has the potential of multiple breach of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic because its adoption can result in participation of Catholic Church in legislative process and introduction of canonical law as source of law