Nine distinguished figures honoured at Encaenia
The University of Oxford conferred honorary degrees on nine distinguished figures at the annual Encaenia ceremony on 22 June 2016. Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa Monsignor Professor TomᨠHalík is a Czech priest, theologian and author, and winner of the 2014 Templeton Prize. In the Communist era he studied theology clandestinely, was ordained in secret and worked in the underground Church with figures including Cardinal Tomá¨ek, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia from 1977 to 1991 and Václav Havel, who was to become the first President of the Czech Republic. After the fall of communism, Halík became one of Havel's advisors. In 1990, Pope John Paul II appointed him advisor to the Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers and in 2008 Pope Benedict XVI granted him the title of Monsignor - Honorary Prelate of His Holiness. Monsignor Halík continues to take an active part in public life, opposing racial, national, religious and political intolerance. He is currently Professor of Sociology of Religion at Charles University, Pastor of the Academic Parish in Prague, and President of the Czech Christian Academy.
