Concordat of 1953

Last updated

The Concordat of 1953 was the last classic concordat of the Catholic Church, signed on 27 August 1953 by Spain (under the rule of Francisco Franco) with the Vatican (during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII). Together with the Pact of Madrid, signed the same year, it was a significant effort to break Spain's international isolation after World War II.

Contents

In return for the granting by the Vatican of the "royal patronage" ( Patronato real , the historical privilege of Spanish kings to appoint clerical figures) to Franco, the concordat gave the Catholic Church in Spain a set of privileges such as state funding and exemption from government taxation.

The Concordat of 1953 superseded the Concordat of 1851 and Franco's 1941 Convention with the Vatican.

Background

Franco's political system was virtually the antithesis of the final government of the Second Spanish Republic, the Popular Front government. [1] In the early years of the Francoist regime, church and state had a close and mutually beneficial association. [1]

Franco had wanted a full concordat with royal rights of patronage, the right to choose bishops. The Vatican, uncertain of his future, compromised by offering him a less official "convention", signed on 7 June 1941, [2] and gave him only a limited role in choosing bishops. Years after World War II, the terms of the Convention of 1941 were formalized in Article 7 of the Concordat of 1953.

In contrast to the anticlericalism of the Popular Front, the Francoist regime established policies that were highly favorable to the Catholic Church, which was restored to its previous status as the official religion of Spain. [1] In addition to receiving government subsidies, the church regained its dominant position in the education system, and laws conformed to Catholic dogma. [1]

During the Francoist regime, Roman Catholicism was the only religion to have legal status; other worship services could not be advertised, and the Roman Catholic Church was the only religious institution that was permitted to own property or publish books. [1] The government not only continued to pay priests' salaries and to subsidize the church but it also assisted in the reconstruction of church buildings damaged by the war. [1] Laws were passed abolishing divorce and banning the sale of contraceptives. [1] Catholic religious instruction was mandatory, even in state schools. [1]

In return for granting the Catholic Church these privileges, Franco obtained the right to name Roman Catholic bishops in Spain, as well as veto power over appointments of clergy down to the parish priest level. [1]

Terms

In 1953 this close cooperation was formalized in a new Concordat with the Vatican, which granted the church an extraordinary set of privileges:

Aftermath

With the death of Franco in 1975 and Spain's subsequent transition to democracy, the Concordat was changed and amended several times. In 1976, a convention [5] between the Spanish government and the Holy See abolished the right to nominate bishops for the Spanish head of state. In 1978, the new democratic constitution that brought Francoism to a final end established the principle of religious neutrality (aconfesionalidad) of the Spanish state and the complete freedom of religion for its citizens. In 1979, another convention [6] between the Spanish government and the Holy See changed the law regarding financial aspects and public subsidies for the Catholic church.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lateran Treaty</span> 1929 treaty between Italy under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and the Holy See

The Lateran Treaty was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman Question. The treaty and associated pacts were named after the Lateran Palace where they were signed on 11 February 1929, and the Italian parliament ratified them on 7 June 1929. The treaty recognized Vatican City as an independent state under the sovereignty of the Holy See. The Italian government also agreed to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States. In 1948, the Lateran Treaty was recognized in the Constitution of Italy as regulating the relations between the state and the Catholic Church. The treaty was significantly revised in 1984, ending the status of Catholicism as the sole state religion.

The relations between the Catholic Church and the state have been constantly evolving with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history, the Church has had to deal with various concepts and systems of governance, from the Roman Empire to the medieval divine right of kings, from nineteenth- and twentieth-century concepts of democracy and pluralism to the appearance of left- and right-wing dictatorial regimes. The Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis humanae stated that religious freedom is a civil right that should be recognized in constitutional law.

A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both, i.e. the recognition and privileges of the Catholic Church in a particular country and with secular matters that impact on church interests.

<i>Reichskonkordat</i> Treaty negotiated between the Vatican and the emergent Nazi Germany

The Reichskonkordat is a treaty negotiated between the Vatican and the emergent Nazi Germany. It was signed on 20 July 1933 by Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, on behalf of Pope Pius XI and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of President Paul von Hindenburg and the German government. It was ratified 10 September 1933 and it has been in force from that date onward. The treaty guarantees the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany. When bishops take office Article 16 states they are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Governor or President of the German Reich established according to the constitution. The treaty also requires all clergy to abstain from working in and for political parties. Nazi breaches of the agreement began almost as soon as it had been signed and intensified afterwards leading to protest from the Church including in the 1937 Mit brennender Sorge encyclical of Pope Pius XI. The Nazis planned to eliminate the Church's influence by restricting its organizations to purely religious activities.

<i>Mit brennender Sorge</i> 1937 papal encyclical condemning fascism and antisemitism in Germany

Mit brennender Sorge is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, issued during the Nazi era on 10 March 1937. Written in German, not the usual Latin, it was smuggled into Germany for fear of censorship and was read from the pulpits of all German Catholic churches on one of the Church's busiest Sundays, Palm Sunday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church and politics</span> Interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics

The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. The Catholic Church's views and teachings have evolved over its history and have at times been significant political influences within nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Spain</span>

The Catholic branch of Christianity is the most widely professed religion in Spain, with high levels of secularization as of 2022. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution.

The first conflicts between the Roman Catholic Church and the Argentine government can be traced to the ideas of the May Revolution of 1810. The Tribunal of the Inquisition was suppressed in the territories of the United Provinces of the River Plate on 23 March 1813, and on 4 June the General Assembly declared the state "independent from any ecclesiastical authorities existing outside its territory".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church in Spain</span> Overview of the role of the Catholic Church in Spain

The Spanish Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Spain, is part of the Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome, and the Spanish Episcopal Conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Padroado</span>

The Padroado was an arrangement between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Portugal and later the Portuguese Republic, through a series of concordats by which the Holy See delegated the administration of the local churches and granted some theocratic privileges to Portuguese monarchs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francisco Vidal y Barraquer</span>

Francisco de Asís Vidal y Barraquer was a Spanish Catalan cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Tarragona from 1919 until his death; he was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1921.

The Holy See has long been recognised as a subject of international law and as an active participant in international relations. One observer has stated that its interaction with the world has, in the period since World War II, been at its highest level ever. It is distinct from the city-state of the Vatican City, over which the Holy See has "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">France–Holy See relations</span> Bilateral relations

Holy See–France relations are very ancient and have existed since the 5th century. They have been durable to the extent that France is sometimes called the eldest daughter of the Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Catholic Church in Spain</span> Church history in Spain

The Catholic Church in Spain has a long history, starting in the 1st century. It is the largest religion in Spain, with 58.6% of Spaniards identifying as Catholic.

The Concordat of 1851 was a concordat between the Spanish government of Queen Isabella II and the Vatican. It was negotiated in response to the policies of the anticlerical Liberal government, which had forced her mother out as regent in 1841. Although the concordat was signed on 16 March 1851, its terms were not implemented until 1855.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church and Nazi Germany</span>

Popes Pius XI (1922–1939) and Pius XII (1939–1958) led the Catholic Church during the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. Around a third of Germans were Catholic in the 1930s, most of them lived in Southern Germany; Protestants dominated the north. The Catholic Church in Germany opposed the Nazi Party, and in the 1933 elections, the proportion of Catholics who voted for the Nazi Party was lower than the national average. Nevertheless, the Catholic-aligned Centre Party voted for the Enabling Act of 1933, which gave Adolf Hitler additional domestic powers to suppress political opponents as Chancellor of Germany. President Paul Von Hindenburg continued to serve as Commander and Chief and he also continued to be responsible for the negotiation of international treaties until his death on 2 August 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germany–Holy See relations</span> Bilateral relations

Formal diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the current Federal Republic of Germany date to the 1951 and the end of the Allied occupation. Historically the Vatican has carried out foreign relations through nuncios, beginning with the Apostolic Nuncio to Cologne and the Apostolic Nuncio to Austria. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the Congress of Vienna, an Apostolic Nuncio to Bavaria replaced that of Cologne and that mission remained in Munich through several governments. From 1920 the Bavarian mission existed alongside the Apostolic Nuncio to Germany in Berlin, with which it was merged in 1934.

Foreign relations between Pope Pius XI and Spain were very tense, especially because they occurred within the context of the Spanish Civil War and the period of troubles preceding it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concordat of 1940</span> Agreement between Portugal and the Holy See

The Concordat of 1940 was an agreement between Portugal and the Holy See of the Catholic Church signed in the Vatican on 7 May 1940 under António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo. The 1940 concordat was kept in place until 2004 when a new one was signed by Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso. Salazar's text outlived him and outlived his regime for 30 years. The text was ratified in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution, only slightly amended in order to allow civil divorce in Catholic marriages, while keeping all the other articles in force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concordat of 1854</span> 1854 treaty between Guatemala and the Vatican

The Concordat of 1854 was an international treaty between the president of the Republic of Guatemala - General Captain Rafael Carrera - and the Holy See, which was signed in 1852 and ratified by both parties in 1854. Through this, Guatemala gave the education of Guatemalan people to regular orders Catholic Church, committed to respect ecclesiastical property and monasteries, imposed mandatory tithing and allowed the bishops to censor what was published in the country; in return, Guatemala received dispensations for the members of the army, allowed those who had acquired the properties that the Liberals had expropriated the Church in 1829 to keep those properties, perceived taxes generated by the properties of the Church, and had the right to judge certain crimes committed by clergy under Guatemalan law. The concordat was designed by Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol and reestablished the relationship between Church and State in Guatemala. It was in force until the fall of the conservative government of Marshal Vicente Cerna y Cerna

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Solsten, Eric; Meditz, Sandra W., eds. (1990). Spain: a country study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 44, 111. OCLC   44200005. PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  2. ↑ "Franco's wartime convention (1941)", Concordat Watch
  3. ↑ "Franco's concordat (1953) : Text", Concordat Watch
  4. ↑ "Spanish Concordat of 1953, Articles 1, 2, 24, 26, 31", Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University
  5. ↑ "Modifications to Franco's concordat (1976)", Concordat Watch
  6. ↑ "The four 1979 concordats", Concordat Watch
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.