The Prague Archbishopric announced that Dominik Jaroslav Duka — Cardinal Emeritus of Prague — died in the early hours of Tuesday, November 4. He was 82 years old.

According to the announcement, “today, Tuesday, November 4, at three o’clock after midnight, the Lord of Life called Cardinal Duka … to eternity. May the infinitely merciful God open His arms to him and fill him with His love and bliss.”

A book of condolences will open in the Archbishop’s Palace from Tuesday at noon.

The public may also pay respects in person at the All Saints’ Church on Thursday, November 13 and Friday, November 14, between noon and 18:00.

Cardinal Duka will be laid to rest in the Archbishops’ Tomb within the Chapel of St. Vitus at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, awaiting the Resurrection. Funeral details will be published Wednesday. The Mass will take place on November 15 at St. Vitus Cathedral.

Born April 26, 1943, in Hradec Králové, Duka entered priestly formation at the Cyril and Methodius Theological Faculty in Litoměřice in 1965. He joined the Dominican Order in 1968 and was ordained a priest in June 1970.

Shortly afterward, he served in parish ministry for five years, but then lost government authorisation under communist rule and worked as a draftsman at Škoda Plzeň for fifteen years, while continuing clandestine pastoral work. He was imprisoned in Pilsen-Bory from 1981 to 1982, where the future president Václav Havel also served time.

After the fall of the communist regime, he rose through the Church hierarchy, becoming Bishop of Hradec Králové in 1998 and Archbishop of Prague in 2010. Pope Benedict XVI created him cardinal in 2012.

During his tenure as Archbishop of Prague, Duka guided the Czech Catholic Church through a period marked by the return of Church property and negotiations with the state over restitution.

He once declared after meeting President Václav Klaus that his goal was for people “to be as kind to each other all year round as they are at Christmas.” In 2016, he received the Order of the White Lion from President Miloš Zeman.

In recent weeks, Cardinal Duka had been hospitalised at the Central Military Hospital in Prague. He underwent emergency surgery on October 6 and was admitted again on the evening of November 1. The Prague Archbishopric stated at the time only that his condition was serious.

Cardinal Duka retired in 2022, having offered his resignation in 2018 upon reaching 75, but was allowed to remain in office until his successor was named in July 2022.

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