Czech bishop keeps his post despite sexual scandal

CeskeNoviny, Czech Republic/March 6, 2007

Prague -- Karel Bican still remains Prague bishop of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church in spite of his sexual scandal as his opponents did to gain the necessary 60 percent of votes for his dismissal at the Prague diocese's meeting today, church patriarch Tomas Butta told reporters.

Bican, 55, who is married, demanded sex from a man, named Lukas Borecky, whom he helped upon return from prison.

The scandal erupted last autumn when the weekly Tyden published some extracts of the conversation in which Bican told Borecky that he was in love with him. Bican at first said that the recording was false. He only confessed after the church wanted to order a voice analysis of the recording.

The Czechoslovak Hussite Church's central council called on Bican to step down over the scandal, but he refused to do so. He said he would like the Prague diocese that had elected him to decide on his resignation.

The Protestant Hussite church is the third most populous church in the Czech Republic.