Reichskonkordat

The Reichskonkordat is the concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich, signed in 1933. It is still valid today in Germany.

History

After the revolution of 1918 and the Weimar constitution of 1919 had ended the former relationship between state and churches, the Holy See - represented in Germany by Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli - and and Catholic politicians from the Centre Party, repeatedly pushed for a concordat with the new German Republic. On the level of the states, concordats were achieved with Bavaria (1924), Prussia (1929) and Baden (1932). On the national level however negotiations failed for several reasons: the fragility of the national government and discord among the German bishops and between them and the Holy See. Especially the questions of denominational schools and pastoral work in the armed forces prevented any agreement on the national level, despite talks even in the winter of 1932.

On 30 January, 1933 Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor. On 23 March, 1933 his government was given legislative powers through the Enabling Act. In April, he sent his vice chancellor Franz von Papen, a Catholic nobleman and former member of the Centre Party, to Rome to offer negotiations about a Reichskonkordat. After these negotiations, the German government accepted the autonomy of the church in exchange for the withdrawal of clerics from the political field (articles 16 and 32) and the restriction of Catholic organisations. This also effected the dissolvement of the Centre Party. The Nazi government was also interested in silencing their Catholic critics and soothing distrust against the anti-church NSDAP manifesto and in gaining international recognition--the Reichskonkordat was their first bilateral treaty.

On the significance of the Reichskonkordat, 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."

Signature of the Reichskonkordat
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 Reichskonkordat was signed on July 20 1933, and ratified on September 10 1933.

The Concordat

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 taxes. (Article 13)
• The oath of allegiance of the bishops: "(...) 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 Deep Anxiety") of 1937 of Pope Pius XI.

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 Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber have additional information on the Reichskonkordat and role of Roman Catholic leaders in its conclusion.

External links

• CATHOLIC LIBRARY: Concordat with the German Reich (1933)
• Text of the Reichskonkordat (in German)
• German Historic Museum: Das Reichskonkordat (in German)

• Mit brennender Sorge — the encyclical of Pope Pius XI from March 14, 1937 (in English).