Rome, Italy, Oct 27, 2025 / 06:00 am

A hundred years ago, Vladimír Jukl was born — a secretly ordained Catholic priest in communist Czechoslovakia who endured imprisonment and torture yet helped bring down the regime. A key figure in the underground Catholic resistance, he inspired thousands through faith, courage, and quiet leadership.

In 2022, a film titled “The Free Men: A Story of Friendship That Changed Slovakia” told his story. Among those who viewed it were then-Prime Minister Eduard Heger and President Zuzana Čaputová. The following year, former dissident František Mikloško published “Vladimír Jukl: In the Front Line of a Great Story.”

Born in Bratislava in 1925, Jukl was accused of “treason” — that is, of forbidden religious activity — during the communist era. He was torture

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