The Reichskonkordat is the concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich, signed in 1933. It is still valid today in Germany. A concordat is an agreement between the pope and a government or sovereign on religious matters. ... See Robert Reich for the former U.S. Labor Secretary. ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

History

After the constitution of 1919 of the Weimar Republic had instituted the separation of church and state, the Vatican and clericals active in the German Centre Party initiated negotiations on a concordat with the German Republic. On the German side, the lead negotiator was Franz von Papen. However, the democratically elected governments of Germany did not accept the requests of Nuncio Pacelli, the later Pope Pius XII. 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (Pronounced Vye-Mar, and in German it is known as the Weimarer Republik). It is named after the city of Weimar, where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German monarchy... The factual accuracy of this article is Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. ... Franz von Papen (October 29, 1879–May 2, 1969) was a German politician and diplomat from the Catholic Center Party. ... A Papal Nuncio (also known as an Apostolic Nuncio) is a permanent diplomatic representative (head of mission) of the Holy See to a state, having ambassadorial rank. ... The Venerable Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958 in Rome, Italy), served as the Pope from March 2, 1939 to 1958. ...

In January 1933 Franz von Papen (he was then vice chancellor to Hitler) persuaded Hitler to resume negotiations. The Nazi government accepted the far-reaching rights of the church in exchange for the agreement of the Centre Party to the Enabling Act. (The Enabling Act needed to pass with a two-thirds majority, which was only possible with the votes of the Centre Party.) The Nazis were also interested in reassuring their Catholic critics and in the political disempowerment of the clergy (articles 16 and 32 of the concordat) and in gaining international recognition: the Reichskonkordat was their first bilateral treaty. Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... The Enabling Act (in German: Ermächtigungsgesetz) was passed by the Reichstag on March 23, 1933. ...

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 on July 20, 1933.
On the left, Franz von Papen; in the center, Nuncio Pacelli.

The Reichskonkordat was signed on July 20, 1933, and ratified on September 10, 1933. His Eminence Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber (born March 3, 1869 in Unterfranken, died June 12, 1952 in Munich) was a Cardinal in the Catholic Church and Arch Bishop of Munich during 35 years, from 1917 to his death in 1952. ... Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, signs the Reichskonkordat with the national socialist government under Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1933. ... Franz von Papen (October 29, 1879–May 2, 1969) was a German politician and diplomat from the Catholic Center Party. ... The Venerable Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958 in Rome, Italy), served as the Pope from March 2, 1939 to 1958. ... July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining. ... September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). ...

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

A secret annex relieved clericals 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). With an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (German: Preußen or Preussen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: Prūsai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia and... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Baden was a territory in the southwest of what later became unified Germany. ... 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who holds a specific position of authority in any of a number of Christian churches. ... Woodrow Wilson with the American Peace Commissioners The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 is the peace treaty created as a result of six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 which put an official end to World War I between the Allies and Central Powers. ...

Only when the Nazi government violated the concordat (in particular article 31), the clergy started to critize their politics. This criticism culminated in the papal encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge" ("With Deep Anxiety") of 1937 of Pope Pius XI. In the ancient Church, an encyclical was a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... His Holiness Pope Pius XI, born Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 - February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope and sovereign of Vatican City from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. ...

After World War II

After World War II, the validity of the Reichskonkordat was unclear. On March 26, 1957, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht) finally decided that the concordat was still valid, making it thus the only bilateral treaty from the Nazis that is still valid for Germany today. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (86th in leap years). ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Federal Constitutional Court (in German: Bundesverfassungsgericht) is a special court established by the German constitution, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). ...

Besides the dubious pedigree of the treaty, critics point out that the concordat basically undermines the disestablishment instituted in the constitution of the Weimar Republic and also upheld by the constitution of modern Germany.

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.

The Venerable Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958 in Rome, Italy), served as the Pope from March 2, 1939 to 1958. ... His Eminence Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber (born March 3, 1869 in Unterfranken, died June 12, 1952 in Munich) was a Cardinal in the Catholic Church and Arch Bishop of Munich during 35 years, from 1917 to his death in 1952. ...

External links

• CATHOLIC LIBRARY: Concordat with the German Reich (1933) (http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_ss33co.htm)
• Text (http://www.ibka.org/artikel/ag97/reichskonkordat.html) of the Reichskonkordat (in German)
• German Historic Musuem (http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/nazi/aussenpolitik/reichskonkordat/): Das Reichskonkordat (in German)

• Mit brennender Sorge (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge_en.html) — the encyclical of Pope Pius XI from March 14, 1937 (in English).