Update: 16.01.2023 23:56
Presented by: 16.01.2023, 20:33
Prague – Prague’s Church of the Child Jesus will be closed Tuesday morning due to the planned visit of presidential candidate Andrej Babiš. The administrators did not want the leader of the ANO movement Babiš to misuse the pilgrimage site for an offensive and fear-mongering campaign. Church rector Pavel Bola told CTK this evening. At the same time, he apologized to the viewers for the trouble caused. Babiš told ČTK that he did not want to misuse the visit for propaganda. He said he had been there three times but had not posted it anywhere. server iDNES.cz He then said that he had decided to cancel his visit to the Crown Jewels, which he had intended to see in the morning at St. Vitus’ Church, Babis.
“Due to the timing of the visit and the media coverage, we clearly consider it part of the election campaign, which is being conducted in a very offensive and fear-mongering fashion, and which we certainly cannot recognize,” Bola said of Babis’ visit. to the church. “We do not want this world-famous pilgrimage site and an important religious symbol, the statue of the Child Jesus of Prague, to be misused for such purposes,” he added. According to him, Babis, like other visitors, can visit the church at other times for private prayers.
Babiš told ČTK that he did not want to misuse the visit for propaganda. He was last there on January 12, just before the first round of elections, but he did not post it anywhere, he said. He also mentioned that he carries with him the baby Jesus he received as a gift. And unlike the other candidate, Peter Pavel, a former representative of the Czech military and NATO, he said he is not campaigning aggressively. At a press conference on Saturday after the first round of the election, he hit him hard.
“I’m sorry, I’ll go there another time and nobody will know,” the former prime minister added. He also said that Pavel was in the church in 2019 A lecture.
Babis wanted to visit the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Mala Strana, known as the Child Jesus of Prague, on Tuesday morning. Subsequently, he planned to visit the exhibition of the crown jewels in the Prague Castle, but according to the iDNES.cz server, he canceled the visit due to the tense situation. “I’m not going anywhere, everyone is running an anti-Babis campaign,” the server quoted Babis as saying.
Babis announced Tuesday that he will participate in a vote of no confidence in the government. Babis’ campaign launch before the second round of elections was described as offensive by political scientists and commentators. At the same time, Babis repeatedly reiterated that he wanted to run a positive campaign.
