On September 26, 2025, Slovakia’s Parliament approved a historic constitutional amendment, one of the greatest victories for conservatives in the nation’s modern history.
A Constitutional Breakthrough
The amendment enshrines seven core principles: Slovakia maintains sovereignty over its national identity, life and human dignity are protected, marriage is defined as a union between a man and a woman, surrogacy is banned, parental consent is required for education on intimacy and sex, only two biologically determined sexes are recognized, and men and women must receive equal pay. Homosexual couples may not adopt children as couples.
Perched on Castle Hill overlooking the Danube, the Slovak Parliament witnessed a moment few expected. For decades, conservative efforts to codify these principles had stalled, often failing by a single vote. Yet on this day, history turned. The amendment passed against the tide of aggressive secularism, in what many are calling a true Miracle on the Danube.
This is more than a legal change; it is a cultural moment. Slovakia’s conservatives, drawing on decades of persistent activism, prayer, and civil society organizing, have set an example for Europe, and for America. In a world increasingly dominated by progressive elites and activist courts, Slovakia has shown that it is possible to defend family, faith, and freedom, one decisive vote at a time.
Behind the Vote
A few days after the vote, I entered a modest conference room tucked down Castle Hill. The table was strewn with refreshments, and the room held an unusual mix: former ministers, politicians from three parties, journalists, a bishop, conservative activists, children, and spouses. It felt more like a tense family reunion than a political gathering.
The room erupted when two men entered: Rastislav Krátky and Marek Krajčí. Both received a spontaneous standing ovation. Krátky, 35, was a first-time parliamentarian on the Committee for Constitutional Matters. Krajčí, in his early 50s, was a seasoned politician returning to parliament for the third time after a stint as health minister during the pandemic.
The night before the vote, torn between Christian convictions and political calculations, they quietly made a decision that would shock the nation. That morning, they cast the final two votes that saved an amendment many had written off.
The fallout was immediate. Their party leader branded them traitors and demanded their resignation, highlighting the sharp tensions within a party long defined by its opposition to Prime Minister Robert Fico, now serving his fourth term. Fico, a former communist turned social democrat, has reinvented himself as a national populist, anti-globalist, and sovereignist. From a conservative perspective, his record is weak: he reversed retirement reforms favoring large families, abolished the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, and cut funding to church-run schools. Yet ironically, the very amendment Krátky and Krajčí helped pass also granted Fico a strategic success in the public eye.
Decades-Long Campaign
While Krátky and Krajčí’s votes sealed the amendment, the victory was decades in the making. At its core, the amendment protects national sovereignty, life, marriage, and family - shielding Slovakia from ideological pressure from international institutions. For conservatives, it represents a blueprint for cultural and moral self-determination.
This vision traces back to the early 1990s, to Ján Čarnogurský, a former dissident and human rights activist who founded the Christian Democratic Movement. Even then, he warned that Slovakia would face ongoing ideological pressures from abroad. The amendment is, in many ways, the fulfillment of that long-foreseen struggle.
Its intellectual roots extend further, to Fr. Tomislav Kolakovič, dedicatee of Rod Dreher’s Live Not By Lies, who cautioned against foreign ideological influence and moral decay. Under Čarnogurský, the Slovak Parliament adopted a non-binding 2002 declaration asserting national sovereignty in cultural and ethical matters, a declaration Fico abstained from at the time. Yet it was Fico, ironically, who brought the vision to constitutional fruition.
Slovakia’s history makes this even more remarkable: nearly every similar bill on life, family, or education had failed since 1993, often by a single vote. The only exception was a 2014 amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, passed with cooperation between Fico and the Christian Democrats.
Grassroots support has always been strong. Over 70,000 people attended three consecutive national Marches for Life in the mid-2010s. Many bills were championed by veteran pro-life advocate and long-serving MEP Anna Záborská, who passed away in August 2025. Though her replacement initially opposed the amendment, Záborská’s influence remained quietly decisive.
The amendment is also a triumph for the Christian Democratic Movement. After years of marginalization, the party’s support signals an ideological reawakening. Vice Chairman Viliam Karas played a pivotal role in drafting the amendment. While Fico’s government formally proposed the legislation, much of its substance stemmed from earlier Christian Democratic initiatives. A key provision, recognition of only two biologically determined sexes, was suggested by Záborská’s Christian Union, cementing her enduring influence.
The Ecosystem
The amendment’s swift passage was powered not only by parliamentarians but by a network of conservative activists, most notably the Ladislav Hanus Fellowship. In the week leading up to the vote, the Fellowship organized a March for Life, a televised debate featuring politicians from multiple parties, and a tribute to Charlie Kirk at the American embassy.
That same week, the Fellowship hosted Olivia Maurel, the world’s foremost advocate against surrogacy. She appeared on national television, lectured at Slovakia’s premier law school, launched her memoir, and met privately with undecided parliamentarians. Text messages sent up to minutes before the vote ensured her message reached the right ears.
Founded over 20 years ago, the Fellowship is Slovakia’s largest association of Catholic students and young professionals. Its programs and conferences form the backbone of the country’s social conservative ecosystem. Think of it as Slovakia’s combination of the Napa Institute, March for Life, the Federalist Society, and the Leonine Forum, operating on a modest budget yet exerting outsized influence.
Its flagship event, Bratislava Hanus Days, is the Central European equivalent of the Napa Institute Summer Conference or Notre Dame’s Fall Conference. Past speakers include Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Thomas Joseph White OP, and Professor Robert P. George. Led by Slovak philosopher Juraj Šúst, the Fellowship channels the vitality of American Catholicism into Slovakia’s unique cultural and political context.
The celebratory gathering after the vote took place at the Fellowship’s offices, a symbolic venue for a movement fueled as much by faith as politics. Even small details, like a Coca-Cola bottle labeled “Rodina” (family), reflected the moment’s cultural and spiritual heartbeat. Both Krátky and Krajčí discerned their decisions through prayer. Parishes, monasteries, and international allies mobilized in support, showing that this constitutional battle was as much spiritual as political. Krajčí, a member of a small Baptist church, reflected in a public interview:
"When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, my wife watched the whole thing closely. She told me one time, she didn’t push; she just said… What is at stake here and what we can get into the constitution in our country is what that man had been working for all his life and what he was killed for… It made an impression on me, it was strong. The fruit of his death has reached Slovakia."
As Saint John Paul II emphasized in 1996:
"Slovakia has a special role to play in building the Europe of the third millennium… Above all, Slovakia is called to offer Europe the gift of its faith in Christ and its devotion to the Virgin Mary."
Increasingly, Slovak Christians are embracing that mission. While challenges remain, from Fico’s populism to the progressive opposition, Slovakia now stands as a beacon of faith, family, and cultural sovereignty along the Danube, a model for other nations seeking to reclaim the moral and spiritual foundations of the West.
Samuel Trizuljak
Historian
