EN
Masaryk’s attitude to political Catholicism was slowly developing from 1918 to 1935. The Catholic political groups were mostly Czech (Czechoslovak People’s Party, CSL), Slovak (Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party, HSLS), and German (German Christian Social People’s Party, DCV). Prior to 1918, Masaryk’s views of the Catholic political parties were rather negative, as he considered political Catholicism an inadmissible interference of the ecclesiastic world in the political arena. After the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 and during the 1920s, Masaryk’s negative attitude to those parties remained unchanged. In the 1930s, however, he modified a little his attitude to the Catholic Church and to political Catholicism. A great success was the Catholic Congress held in 1935 and openly supported by Masaryk. His attitude in the period of time under consideration was far from being homogeneous; it depended on the particular party or person, and showed also alterations in time. Apparent discontinuity can be seen in the views before and after 1918. Masaryk’s relation to particular representatives of the Catholic political camp can be also used to demonstrate his ability to balance the radical streams within the particular groups. However, Masaryk was personally far from considering the question of Catholic belief to be closed or finally resolved