Reichskonkordat

HISTORY

After the called it his 'great goal'.

Signature of the ''Reichskonkordat'' on 20 July 1933 .

From left to right: German Vice-Chancellor Franz Von Papen , representing Germany, Giuseppe Pizzardo , Cardinal Pacelli , Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani , German ambassador Rudolf Buttmann

The importance of the concordat policy to Pacelli, to the point that it dominated his thinking on German matters, is exemplified in Heinrich Brüning 's account of their meeting on 8th August 1931 (Brüning, leader of the Catholic German Centre Party , was Reich Chancellor between 29th March 1930 and 30th May 1932.) According to Brüning's memoirs Pacelli suggested that he disband the Centre Party's governing coalition with the Social Democrats and "form a government of the right simply for the sake of a Reich concordat, and in doing so make it a condition that a concordat be concluded immediately." Bruning refused to do so, replying that Pacelli "mistook the political situation in Germany and, above all, the true character of the Nazis."

On the level of the states, concordats were achieved with ; and discord among the German bishops and between them and the Holy See. In particular the questions of denominational schools and pastoral work in the armed forces prevented any national agreement on the national level, despite talks in the winter of 1932 .

According to Klaus Scholder, a Reichskonkordat was in fact impossible under the Weimar Republic : "as long as this democratic republic existed in Germany a Reich concordat was inconceivable." Catholic parties would never have sufficient strength to get a treaty past protestant and socialist opposition. It was thus the emergence of Hitler's dictatorship that allowed the concordat to become a real possibility, following the model of the Lateran treaties with fascist Italy where the Church had agreed to abstain from political activity in return for recognition in a concordat.

After elections in January 1933, the Nazis formed a new government with Hitler as chancellor on 30th January. According to Vice-Chancellor . Historians including Klaus Scholder have maintained that a key reason for the Centre Party leadership agreeing to support the Enabling Act was a promise from Hitler to negotiate a Reich concordat with the Vatican. Scholder maintains that Centre Party president Ludwig Kaas , a priest and close associate of Pacelli, "probably acted as the key go-between in the whole matter."

The day after the Enabling Act vote Kaas went to Rome in order to, in his own words, "investigate the possibilities for a comprehensive understanding between church and state." The first official mention of the concordat was made when Kaas returned ten days later, on 2nd April. On 9th April Kaas returned to Rome, travelling with von Papen, to begin the official negotiations for the concordat. The concordat was finally signed, by Pacelli for the Vatican and von Papen for Germany, on 20th July. One of Hitler's key conditions for agreeing the concordat had been the dissolution of the Centre Party, which occurred on 6th July.

The ''Reichskonkordat'' was ratified on September 10 1933 . In the Concordat, the German government achieved a complete proscription of all clerical interference in the political field (articles 16 and 32). It also ensured the bishops' loyalty to the state by an oath and required all priests to be Germans and subject to German superiors. Restrictions were also placed on the Catholic organisations.

TERMS, AND VIOLATIONS

The main points of the concordat are:

The right to freedom of religion. (Article 1)

The state concordats with Bavaria ( 1924 ), Prussia ( 1929 ), and Baden ( 1932 ) remain valid. (Article 2)

Unhindered correspondence between the Holy See and German Catholics. (Article 4)

The right of the church to collect Church Tax es. (Article 13)

The Oath of allegiance of the Bishop s: ''"(...) Ich schwöre und verspreche, die verfassungsmässig gebildete Regierung zu achten und von meinem Klerus achten zu lassen (...)"'' ("I swear and vow to honor the constitutional government and to make my clergy honor it") (Article 16)

State services to the church can be abolished only in mutual agreement. (Article 18)

Catholic religion is taught in school (article 21) and teachers for Catholic religion can be employed only with the approval of the bishop (article 22).

Protection of Catholic organizations and freedom of religious practice. (Article 31)

Clerics may not be members of or be active for political parties. (Article 32)

A secret annex relieved clerics from military duty in the case that mandatory military service should be reinstated. (Germany was not allowed to have mandatory military service by the Treaty Of Versailles ).

When the Nazi government violated the concordat (in particular article 31), bishops and the papcy protested against these violations. Protests culminated in the papal Encyclical ''" Mit Brennender Sorge "'' ("With Burning Sorrow") of 1937 of Pope Pius XI .

MEANING OF THE CONCORDAT

Pacelli, in a two-page article in the Vatican-influenced ''L'Osservatore Romano'' on 26 July and 27 July , said that the purpose of the Reichskonkordat was:
::"''not only the official recognition (by the Reich) of the legislation of the Church (its Code of Canon Law), but the adoption of many provisions of this legislation and the protection of all Church legislation.''"

Cardinal Faulhaber is reported to have said: "With the concordat we are hanged, without the concordat we are hanged, drawn and quartered." {Link without Title}

Guenter Lewy, author of ''The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany,'' has written:

:There is general agreement that the Concordat increased substantially the prestige of Hitler's regime around the world. As Cardinal Faulhaber put it in a sermon delivered in 1937: "At a time when the heads of the major nations in the world faced the new Germany with cool reserve and considerable suspicion, the Catholic Church, the greatest moral power on earth, through the Concordat expressed its confidence in the new German government. This was a deed of immeasurable significance for the reputation of the new government abroad."

The Catholic Church was not alone in signing treaties with the Nazi regime at this point. The concordat was preceded by the Four-Power Pact Hitler had signed in June 1933 .

AFTER WORLD WAR II

After World War II , some challenged the validity of the ''Reichskonkordat'' but on 26 March 1957 the Federal Constitutional Court Of Germany (''Bundesverfassungsgericht'') finally decided that the concordat was still valid. However, in the field of school education the court allowed the individual states to deviate from the concordat's provisions. According to the Basic Law , schools are the domain of the states and the concordat signed without the states' participation could not bind them in this field.

Critics also allege that the concordat undermined the separation of church and state. In reply to that, it should be noted that the Weimar Constitution (whose regulations have been included into today's Basic Law ) does not speak of a "separation" but rather rules out any state religion while protecting religious freedom, religious holidays and leaving open the possibility of cooperation.

SEE ALSO

The articles on Pope Pius XII and Ludwig Kaas have additional information on the ''Reichskonkordat'' and its conclusion.

REFERENCES

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Reichskonkordat