Concordat of 1925

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Main articles: Vatican and Poland (Pius IX - Pius XII) and Pope Pius XII and Poland

A 1925 concordat between Vatican and Second Polish Republic had 27 articles, which guaranteed the freedom of the Church and the faithful. It regulated the usual points of interests, Catholic instruction in primary schools and secondary schools, nomination of bishops, establishment of seminaries, a permanent nuncio in Warsaw, who also represents the interests of he Holy See in Gdansk.[1][2] It was considered one of the most favorable concordates for the Holy See, and would become a basis for many future concordates.

Contents

[edit] Negotiations

Roman Catholic religion was a religion of majority of the citizens in the Second Polish Republic (see also demographics of the Second Republic). Polish constitution of 1921 stipulated in Article 114 that "Roman Catholic faith, the religion of majority of the nation, takes first place among the equally important faiths in the country. The Roman Catholic Church governs itself. Relation to the Church will be determined based on the treaty with the Holy See, upon ratification by the Sejm (Polish parliament)."[3] The negoatiations started in 1921, and the Polish side (Minister of Religion and Education, Maciej Rataj, lawyer Władysław Abraham and bishop Adolf Szelążek) drafted a proposal by 1923.[3] Then the negotiations were taken over by Stanisław Grabski, who represented the endecja faction, then dominant in the government.[3]

The text concordat was published in Poland in Dziennik Ustaw on February 10, it was presented to Sejm on March 24[3]. It was criticized by the representatives of non-Catholic minorities (such as the Ukrainians), as well as by the socialist and communist members of the parliament, but the center-right conservatives and Catholic representatives had the majority, and were supportive of the treaty.[3] It was signed on March 27[citation needed]) by Pietro Gasparri, Cardinal Secretary of State for the Vatican and Stanisław Grabski for Poland.[4][3]

[edit] Content

The Church enjoys full protection of the State, and prays for the leaders of Poland during Sunday mass and on May 3.[5] Clerics make a solemn oath of allegiance to the Polish State [6] If clergy are under accusation, trial documents will be forwarded to ecclesiastical authorities if clergy are accused of crimes. If convicted, they will not serve incarceration in jails but will be handed over to Church authorities for internment in a monastery or convent.[7] The concordat extends to the Latin Rite in five ecclesiastical provinces of Gniezno and Poznan, Warsaw, Wilno, Lwow and Cracow. It applies as well to united Catholics of the Greco-Ruthenian rite in Lwow, and Przemysl, and to the Armenian Rite in Lwow.[8] for religious celebration in the specific rites, Canon law must be observed.[9] Catholic instruction is mandatory in all public schools, except universities.[10] In Article 24 Church and State recognize each others property rights seeming in part from the time of partition before 1918. This means, property rights and real estate titles of he Church are respected, a later agreement will define the status of expropriated Church properties, until that time, the State will pay Church dotations for its clergy. The concordat stipulates, that no part of Polish territory can be placed under the jurisdiction of a bishop outside of Poland[11] or not of Polish citizenship.[12]

On paper the concordat seemed to be a victory for the Church. But Polish bishops felt forced to take measures against early violations, in the area of marriage legislation and property rights. Pope Pius XI was supportive of this and of episcopal initiatives to have their own plenary meetings [13].

[edit] Concordat and Lithuania

The concordat caused a severe conflict between Vatican and Lithuania. The concordat established an ecclesiastical province in Wilno thereby acknowledging Poland's claims to the city despite Lithuanian requests to govern the province directly from Rome.[14] Lithuania and Poland were in a bitter struggle for the city and the surrounding area since 1920 when the city was taken over by pro-Polish forces during the Żeligowski's Mutiny. Lithuanians submitted a protest to Vatican and recalled its representative there; the Holy See responded in kind and all diplomatic relation between Lithuania and Vatican were terminated.[14] They did not improve when in April 1926 Pope Pius XI unilaterally established and reorganized Lithuanian ecclesiastical province without regard to Lithuanian demands and proposals.[15] Popular outrage in response to the concordat was one of the reasons why the Lithuanian Christian Democrats, leading pro-Christian party in Lithuania, lost the majority in the 1926 parliamentary elections.[15] As a result a weak coalition government was formed; this in turn inspired a military coup d'état in December 1926. Lithuanian relations with Vatican were normalized a few months later June 4, 1927, when a concordat was signed between the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri for the Vatican, Dr. Saulis for Lithuania. Improvements in 1927 were mostly due to the efforts of Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras.[16]

[edit] End of the concordat

The concordat has ended on 12 September 1945, when the Soviet-controlled communist government of Poland claimed during the war Vatican has appointed German priests to Polish parishes, violating the concordat.[12] This claim was not recognized by Vatican and many Polish priests, such as Stefan Wyszyński.[17] In a larger context, not only Poland, all East European countries under Soviet control cancelled their concordats with the Vatican after 1945 as a part of the Persecutions against the Catholic Church during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII

[edit] References

  1. ^ Concordata 3
  2. ^ Concordata 8
  3. ^ a b c d e f (Polish) Stanisław Dzięciołowski, Ratyfikacja Konkordatu - III i IV 1925
  4. ^ Joanne M Restrepo Restrepo SJ, Concordata Regnante Sancissimo Domino Pio XI Inita, Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, Romae, 1932
  5. ^ Concordata 8
  6. ^ Concordata 12
  7. ^ Concordata 22
  8. ^ Concordata 9
  9. ^ Concordata 18
  10. ^ Concordata 13
  11. ^ Concordata 26
  12. ^ a b (Polish) Konkordat in Encyklopedia WIEM
  13. ^ Schmidlin IV, 135
  14. ^ a b Gerutis, Albertas (1984). "Independent Lithuania", in Ed. Albertas Gerutis: Lithuania: 700 Years, translated by Algirdas Budreckis, 6th, New York: Manyland Books, 218–219. LCC 75-80057. ISBN 0-87141-028-1. 
  15. ^ a b Eidintas, Alfonsas; Vytautas Žalys, Alfred Erich Senn (September 1999). in Ed. Edvardas Tuskenis: Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918-1940, Paperback, New York: St. Martin's Press, 49–50. ISBN 0-312-22458-3. 
  16. ^ Eidintas, Alfonsas. Lithuania in European Politics, 144.
  17. ^ The Pope according to Wyszynski, never ceased to recognize Polish sovereignty and did not make any personal or territorial changes, while the frequent Vatican press reports continued to report about Poland “as a country standing with the free states fighting for a better future”. (Micewski, Cardinal Wyszinski,NY, 1984, 34) Still, State authorities tried to discredit Pope Pius XII in the eyes of Polish society. His actual speeches and messages to the people of Poland were not known in Poland. (Micewski, 418)

[edit] Further reading

  • Łukomski Stanisław, Konkordat zawarty dnia 10 lutego 1925 roku pomiędzy Stolicą Apostolską i Rzecząpospolitą Polską, Łomża 1934
  • Wisłocki Jerzy, Konkordat polski z 1925 roku: Zagadnienia prawno-polityczne, niwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza 1977

[edit] External links

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