1964 Awake! - Theocratic Collector.com

later became Pope Pius XII, acting on behalf
of Pius XI, the head of the Roman
Catholic Church, and Von Papen, acting
on behalf of Hitler and the German Reich,
signed a concordat or solemn covenant for
mutual cooperation. It was ratified by
their superiors and became effective September
10 of the same year.
The Nazi-Vatican concordat was pat­
terned closely
after the one
made with
Mussolini
(1929), and
gave the Roman
Catholic
Church in
Germany
many distinct
advantages.
For one
thing, it guaran
teed her
"the freedom
teaching of the Catholic religion in the elementary,
vocational, secondary and superior
schools shall be a regular subject and
shall be given in conformity with the principles
of the Catholic Church." (Articles
19, 21) The Catholic Church was also
granted the right to establish and continue
to operate parochial schools, and for its
religious orders to found and direct private
schools. (Articles
23, 25)
And finally,
"in public
hospitals,
prisons and
other similar
institutions,
the Church
shall be admitted."-Ar
Cardinal Pacelli {center), then Secretary of State for the
Vatican, and German Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen (left)
sign Concordat in 1933
of the profession
and public exercise of the Catholic
Religion."* (Article 1) It guaranteed the
Catholic Church freedom of communication
between the Vatican and its bishops,
clergy and lay members in Germany and
between bishops and other diocesan officials
and their flocks. (Article 4) It also
guaranteed all Catholic ecclesiastics the
same protection in the exercise of their
duties that is given the employees of the
State (Article 5), and forbade the wearing
of Catholic religious garb by any unauthorized
persons. (Article 10) It granted
legal recognition to various Catholic organizations
and secured the property rights
of the Church. (Articles 13, 17) It fur,
ther gave assurance that "the Faculties of
Catholic Theology in the Universities of
the State shall be preserved," and that "the
• All quotat1ons are from Documents on InternallOnal
AtJalfB, 1983, edited by John W. Wheeler-Bennett.
MAY 8, 1964
ticle 28.
Many were
the advantages
that the
Catholic
Church gained by this Concordat; in fact,
two-thirds of its thirty-four articles were
favorable to it or presented no restrictions.
On the basis of these alone, the Vatican
and the Catholic Church in Germany could
well compliment themselves on what they
had gained.
But what about the remaining Articles?
When we examine these, what do we find?
That with the pope's approval the Nazi
regime gained no few vital advantages for
itself. To begin with, there is Article 11,
which provided that "the present diocesan
organization ... of the Catholic Church
in Germany shall be presel'ved." However,
the erection of new dioceses or new ecclesiastical
provinces had to be approved by
either the State or the Reich, depending
upon how much territory they involved.
Article 14 granted the Nazis the right
to interfere even far more seriously in
19