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What are Concordats?
These church-state accords give the Church massive state subsidies and other privileges. They can effectively force liberal Catholics to observe orthodoxy, and can disadvantage non-Catholics, as well.
Hitler's concordat (1933) : Text and background
This concordat with Nazi Germany was negotiated by Cardinal Pacelli, who in 1939 became Pius XII. In his ongoing canonisation process he has reached the venerable stage, and is now officially "heroic in virtue". Could this be a smokescreen of incense?
Côte d'Ivoire
A concordat was made especially for “the basilica in the bush”. The church is modelled on the pope's cathedral, but was planned to top it. The concordat removes money from this desperately poor country for the upkeep of the huge and empty basilica.
Quotes on concordats
“A concordat is a pact between the Vatican and a nation-state whereby the Vatican gains certain political and financial benefits in return for support of a policy or arm of the national government. Such a concordat in a nation with numerous Catholics is also helpful in getting their allegiance or in curbing opposition to the government.” — Prof. John M. Swomley, St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri
“Concordat: An Agreement made between a pope and a very Christian king, through which both of them dispose of things they never had any right to touch in the first place.” — Paul-Henri Thiry d'Holbach, Portable Theology, 1768
“[When drawing up concordats] the aims of the Church are always the same: money, influence on education and marriage laws. However, not everywhere can the maximal demands be achieved.” — Wolfgang Huber
“…It were to be desired that the Church should never need concordats, and should always find in civil rulers devoted children….” — “Concordats”, Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1913.
“Each concordat marks a state's renunciation of its own powers and its assumption of the obligation to contribute to those of the Catholic Church. In exchange for these gifts, authoritarian governments buy from the church hierarchy a kind of legitimacy and support for their power, as being in harmony with the commands of God. In some cases they gain influence in the appointment of senior Churchmen. A democratic system does not need this legitimacy [...]. Democracy has been the number one enemy of the Church for two centuries — with a short break, during which it was aggressively atheistic totalitarianism [communism] — and there is no reason to believe that it will change. On the other hand, to grant the Church any privileges violates the foundations of democracy, even if the facade is retained.” — Confidential note (therefore anonymous) for Poland's President Aleksander Kwaśniewski before the ratification of the Polish concordat revealed by MP Ryszard Zając on 12 September 1996 in the Sejm.
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EU lawyers warn:
Concordats endanger human rights
Concordats help enforce Canon Law, the Vatican version of Sharia
Under Canon Law wife beating is no ground for divorce — in fact, nothing is. Therefore if you've been married in a Catholic Church, which means under Canon Law, you may find that a concordat has deprived you of your right to a civil divorce. The Polish concordat phrases it with great delicacy (1993, Article 10.2), calling for the state to put in place the enabling legislation which would enforce "concordat marriage”. But the Dominican one (1954, Article 15.2) says explicitly that people married in a Catholic church, and therefore under Canon Law, may never file for a divorce.
Concordat marriage was also the rule under dictators of the past. The 1940 Portuguese one concluded with Salazar prescribed this for all Catholics: anyone wanting a divorce had to leave the church, but at least divorce was legal. However, divorce was impossible under both the Italian concordat with Mussolini (1929, Art. 34) and the Spanish one with Franco, (1953, Art. 23-25). It is still impossible in Malta, and the 1993 Marriage Concordat is meant to keep it that way. Now the Vatican is trying, where it can, to bring back concordat marriage elsewhere.
Other concordat clauses enforce Canon Law on the employees of Church-run institutions, even though these are funded by the state. For example, the concordat with Hitler (1933, Article 24) is used to this day to fire teachers in Catholic schools if they remarry after a civil divorce.
Through these intimidated Church employees, concordats can be used to enforce Canon Law on the general public. The Slovak “conscience concordat” would have prevented doctors in Church-run hospitals from performing abortions or nurses from giving out information about family planning, since it gave them the “right” to claim that this went against their religious conscience. And, of course, if they didn't exercise this “right” to impose Canon Law on others, they'd lose their jobs. In a rural area where the only hospital may be Church-run, this can effectively limit access to what are in Slovakia perfectly legal services.
At this point legal experts appointed by the European Union put their foot down. They stated firmly that denying access to such services, Canon Law or no Canon Law, was a violation of international Human Rights. Read more...
A sample of what's new on Concordat Watch
● Religious fronts against the Soviet empire: Evangelisation and Jihad
The war in Afghanistan is now threatening to destabilise Pakistan: how did this disastrous conflict begin? It appears to have originated with “a secret initiative that some believed altered the course of the Cold War” — a US-Vatican partnership to use religious zeal to weaken the Soviet Union. This was a pincher movement which encouraged Catholic dissidents on the empire's western flank and Islamic fundamentalists on its southern one. Today the Vatican is happy to take credit for the first, but doesn't seem to mention the second....
● Nicholas and Benedict: a pas de deux to the tune of “positive laïcité”
Laïcité (French for secularism) is a revolutionary idea in both senses: it was born in the French Revolution and it was unprecedented in human history. “Laïcité allows everyone to live together, whatever their beliefs or lack of beliefs.” However, now it is being threatened in the very country which gave it to the world.
● Church, state and money : Groundbreaking series from La Repubblica
The Vatican Secretary of State has objected to the publication of these revealing articles, but has not disputed their accuracy. Here is the entire ten-part series, specially translated by Graeme Hunter for Concordat Watch.
