Czech archbishop hosted lunch for homeless

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PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- The head of the Czech Roman Catholic church hosted Christmas lunch for the homeless, poor and lonely in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday.

Archbishop Dominik Duka hosted the lunch, organized for the 14th time by the Sant'Egidio community, Prague Radio reported.

The Sant'Egidio community has for the past 20 years prepared a table for those who otherwise would remain excluded from Christmas celebrations because they have no family, no home, no job or are sick.

Duka hosted the holiday lunch for about 270 guests at the Archbishop Palace and the Capuchin Monastery in Hradcany -- a part of Prague surrounding the Prague Castle that dates back to the ninth century, where St. Vitus Cathedral is located.

Guests were served soup, beef in cream sauce, roast duck with cabbage and dumplings and Christmas cookies, and each guest received a small gift.

Duka was a parish priest in Prague for three years until the communist government deprived him of the ministry. He worked for 15 years as a designer at the factories of Skoda in Plzen, Czech Republic, until the communist government collapsed in 1989. He was jailed by the government for two years.