001260 Slovakian Church Ruling Spices Sausage Debate

Bratislava, Slovakia - Meat-lovers in Slovakia have long stared into their bowls of traditional Christmas sauerkraut soup, searching for sausage.

This year they may find it: The Roman Catholic Church, emerging again after decades in the dark under communism, has weighed in on an age-old dispute about whether the holiday staple should be made with meat or not.

Surprising Slovaks who consider adding sausage to the soup anathema, the church has announced that abstaining from meat on Christmas is not part of church dogma, the daily newspaper SME reported.

“There is no rule,” said Marian Gavenda, a church spokesman in Slovakia.

That ruling - which certainly doesn't rule sausage out, but doesn't exactly rule it in, either - has by no means tipped the scales. It has only added spice to a long-running dinner-table debate in households throughout this predominantly Catholic country of 5.4 million.

Generally good-natured, the controversy has been known to set newlywed couples apart, according to village lore in many rural hamlets.

Maria Masarova, a Catholic, and her husband Milos Masar, a Protestant, argued over the proper soup contents when they got married 23 years ago. Masarova was of the meatless school; her husband demanded a sausage or two.

“Since we got married, we have talked a lot about it.” Masarova said. “I have sort of given in, and now we put everything in there. Meat, mushrooms, dried fruit.”

The new ruling won't alter things in Masarova's household, but it does reflect the changing role of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovakia, only now grappling with religious issues in the aftermath of 45 years of communist rule.

Since communism's collapse a decade ago, the church has been at its loudest when clamoring for the property that was confiscated by the state after the communists took charge. Recently, though, it has been testing its vocal cords on issues closer to peoples' everyday lives - protesting against the teaching of yoga at schools, for example, and dipping into the Christmas soup controversy.

Still, some Slovak cooks are likely to ignore the voice of the church and go on doing what they've been doing for years.

Julia Szaboova, a 68-year-old grandmother who cooks on a wooden stove at home in the southern town of Filakovo, insists she's not a purist. But she's not indifferent, either.

“Everyone does it their way,” Szaboova said. “But it does not taste good without the sausage.”

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