Tomáš Halík, born 1 June 1948, is a Czech Catholic priest, philosopher, and theologian. He is a professor of sociology at the Charles University in Prague, pastor of the Academic Parish by St. Salvator Church in Prague, and president of the Czech Christian Academy.

Since 1989, Halík has lectured at universities and international scientific conferences in Europe, the United States, Asia, Australia, Canada, and Southern Africa. He was also a visiting professor at Oxford University, Cambridge University, and Harvard University.

He is an author of several books on religion and spirituality and a recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the Templeton Prize, Romano Guardini Prize, and an honorary degree from Oxford University. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI granted him the title of Monsignor Honorary Prelate of His Holiness.

As an active member of religious and cultural dissent during Communist era, Halík was appointed by Pope John Paul II as an advisor to the Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers in 1992. and Muslims. Due to his views on the other religions, his support for registered partnerships, and later gay marriage, his criticism of the anti-abortion movement, and his stance on immigration, he has received both praise and criticism.

Biography

Communist era

Halík converted to Catholicism at 18 years old, due to the influence of writers like G. K. Chesterton and Graham Greene. He studied sociology and philosophy at Charles University in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, where he was a student of Jan Patočka. He moved briefly abroad to study English at the University of Wales, in Bangor, where he was surprised by the Soviet-led invasion of his country, meant to crush the Prague Spring, in August 1968. He returned to Prague, where he graduated in 1972. He delivered a speech at his doctoral graduation ceremony that was deemed subversive by the Communist regime, which banned him from teaching or holding any academic position. He then worked as a psychotherapist, from 1972 to 1975. He held the chair of Psychology of Work for the Institute of the Ministry of Labour, from 1975 to 1984. Meanwhile, Halík clandestinely studied Theology in Prague, and on 21 August 1978, was secretly ordained as a Roman Catholic priest at Erfurt, East Germany. He studied and received a post degree in Psychology from the Institute of Medicine in Prague in 1984. He worked as a psychotherapist for drug addicts and alcoholics at the clinic for cure of addictions of the Charles University, in Prague, from 1984 to 1990. In the 1980s he was active in the "underground church" and was a close associate of Cardinal František Tomášek, before the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Democratic regime

After the "Velvet Revolution", which meant the triumph of democracy in his country, he was one of the external advisers of Czech president Václav Havel. Pope John Paul II appointed him as an adviser to the Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers in 1992. He licenciated in Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University, in Rome, in 1992. The same year he took a higher doctorate in Sociology from Charles University and ThDr.hab. in theology at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Wrocław, Poland. Halík joined the Sociology Faculty at his alma-mater in 1993 and became a professor in 1997. He is also the head of the Religious Studies Department. As a visiting fellow, he held lectureships at both Oxford University and Cambridge University, in England. Hálik is the rector of the Church of the Holy Saviour, in Prague, since 1990, and co-founder and longtime President of the Czech Christian Academy. Pope Benedict XVI nominated him monsignor, as an honorary prelate of the pope, in 2008.

He often publicly discusses ethical issues, such as racism, political and religious intolerance, the process of secularisation, as well as the process of European expansion and integration.

Tomáš Halík is a member of several scientific societies, including the European Society for Catholic Theology, the International Society for the Psychology of Religion, and Washington-based Czechoslovak Society for Science and the Arts.

In 2010, his book Patience with God (Vzdáleným nablízku: vášeň a trpělivost v setkání víry s nevírou) was named book of the month by the U.S. Catholic Book Club and was awarded Europe's best theological book prize.

thumb|Halík speaking at a pro-Ukraine event in 2022

Halík has publicly speculated a run for the Czech presidency. In 2015, Zdeněk Škromach announced he would run, to which Halík had said the year earlier that, if there were no candidates worthy, naming Škromach as one such candidate, he would have a moral obligation to run. However, in early 2016, he stated that he believed the office of president no longer appealed to him, as "it is the time for demagogues" such as the current Czech President Miloš Zeman and Donald Trump. He also did not believe he had high chances of succeeding in the 2018 race, as he would have only won "the voices of the sane and educated", believing that he would need to go against his moral compass and campaign on a populist and controversial platform.

Controversial views

Halík holds some controversial, even dissident views, that are at odds with the official stances of the Catholic Church. He supports women's ordination and has criticized his church's stance on homosexuality, stating that people with same-sex attraction shouldn't be compelled to live in chastity. He has been supportive of the LGBTQ+ Catholic group New Ways Ministry and has agreed to host gay rights demonstrations in his parish church.

Halik also has criticized anti-abortion legislation, specially in Eastern Europe, claiming that the near-total ban on abortion in Poland would "encourage ‘abortion tourism’ of Polish women to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, contributing very little to the protection of the unborn and failing to actually stop the evil of abortion." In an interview given at 6 March 2024, he openly opposes the criminalization of abortion: "We need to learn to function in a pluralistic society; come to terms with the fact that in the legal system of a secular state there is no place for the criminalization of abortion; come to terms with the legalisation of same-sex unions." In his book The Afternoon of Christianity (2024) he openly endorses the rehabilitation of modernism and criticizes strongly Pope Pius X for his condemnation.

Honors, awards and prizes (selection)

  • 1997: The prize of the Masaryk Academy of Arts for creative activity (Prague)
  • 2002: The Andrew Elias Human Tolerance Award for outstanding services in disseminating the values of tolerance and spiritual and intellectual freedom (USA)
  • 2003: The Cardinal König Merit Award for defence of human rights and spiritual freedom, Austria (Laudator: Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic)
  • 2006: The Literary Award of the Czech Literary Fund for the book Night of the Confessor
  • 2007: The Fenix Prize of Polish Booksellers for the best book by a foreign author, for the Both Called and Not Called book (Poland)
  • 2007: The Prize of the Czech Society for Science and Art for his literary, scholarly and pedagogical activity
  • 2010: The Romano Guardini Prize for outstanding merits in interpreting contemporary society, Germany (Laudator: Karel Schwarzenberg, Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic)
  • 2010: The Golden St. Adalbert medal for extraordinarily efficient explanation of religion to fellow citizens, Prague (Laudator: Cardinal Dominik Duka, archbishop of Prague)
  • 2010: Medal for outstanding services to inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue (Islamic society Mosaika-Platform, Prague)
  • 2011: Honorary title "Man of Reconciliation 2010" for outstanding services to dialogue between Christians and Jews (The Polish Council of Christians and Jews, Warsaw)
  • 2012: The Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by decision of the Polish President
  • 2014: Templeton Prize
  • 2016: Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa (University of Oxford)