PRAGUE (AP) — Cardinal Dominik Duka, a former Archbishop of Prague who was persecuted by the communist regime and later helped negotiate compensation for churches for property seized during that era, has died.

Duka died early Tuesday at a hospital in Prague, the Prague Archdiocese said in a statement. He was 82. The cause of death was not given.

He was born as Jaroslav Václav Duka on April 26, 1943, in the city of Hradec Králové.

After the Communists took power in 1948 in Czechoslovakia, the Catholic Church and other churches faced fierce persecution from the state. Churches were seized, outspoken priests jailed or even executed and those allowed to lead services did so under the watchful eye of the secret police.

Duka secretly joined the Dominican Order in 1968 and adopted the name of

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