Concordat of 1925
Encyclopedia
The 1925 concordat
between the Holy See
and the 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 school
s, nomination of bishops, establishment of seminaries
, a permanent nuncio
in Warsaw
, who also represents the interests of the Holy See in Gdańsk
. It was considered one of the most favorable concordats for the Holy See, and would become a basis for many future concordats.
(Polish parliament)." The negotiations 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. Then the negotiations were taken over by Stanisław Grabski, who represented the endecja
faction, then dominant in the government. The negotiations between Grabski and Francesco Borgongini Duca
spanned four months and 23 meetings in Rome. The concordat was signed on February 10 by Pietro Gasparri
, Cardinal Secretary of State
for the Holy See and Stanisław Grabski and Wladyslaw Skrzyński for Poland.
The text concordat was published in Poland in Dziennik Ustaw
. It was presented to Sejm for ratification on March 24. 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. It was ratified on March 27.
and Poznań
, Warsaw, Wilno, Lwów and Cracow. It applied as well to united Catholics of the Greco-Ruthenian rite
in Lwów, and Przemyśl
, and to the Armenian Rite
in Lwów. For religious celebration in the specific rites, Canon law was required to be observed. Catholic instruction was mandatory in all public schools, except universities. In Article 24, the Church and State recognized each other's property rights seeming in part from the time of partition before 1918. This meant that property rights and real estate titles of the Church were respected. A later agreement was to define the status of expropriated Church properties, and until that time, the State would pay Church dotations for its clergy. The concordat stipulated that no part of Polish territory could be placed under the jurisdiction of a bishop outside of Poland or not of Polish citizenship.
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.
. 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. Lithuania and Poland had been in a bitter struggle for the city and the surrounding area
since 1920 when the city was taken over by pro-Polish forces during Żeligowski's Mutiny
. Lithuanians submitted a protest to the Holy See and recalled its representative there; the Holy See responded in kind and all diplomatic relations between Lithuania and the Holy See were terminated. They did not improve when in April 1926 Pope Pius XI
unilaterally established and reorganized the Lithuanian ecclesiastical province without regard to Lithuanian demands and proposals. Popular outrage in response to the concordat was one of the reasons why the Lithuanian Christian Democrats
, the leading pro-Catholic party in Lithuania, lost the majority in the 1926 parliamentary elections
. As a result, a weak coalition government was formed; this in turn inspired a military coup d'état in December 1926
. Lithuanian relations with the Holy See were normalized a few months later, on June 4, 1927, when a concordat was signed between Cardinal Secretary of State
Pietro Gasparri
for the Holy See and Dr. Jurgis Šaulys
for Lithuania. The improvements in 1927 were mostly due to the efforts of Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras
.
On 12 September 1945, the Polish Provisional Government issued declaration that concordat is no longer valid, citing these violations by the Church. This view is not shared by the Holy See and many Polish priests, such as Stefan Wyszyński, who consider concordat to have only been ended by Polish side by this declaration.The Pope, according to Wyszynski, never ceased to recognize Polish sovereignty and did not make any personal or territorial changes, while the frequent Holy See 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, p. 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)
In a larger context, not only Poland, but all East European countries under Soviet control cancelled their concordats with the Holy See after 1945, which can be seen as a part of the Persecutions against the Catholic Church during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII.
Concordat
A concordat is an agreement between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state on religious matters. Legally, they are international treaties. They often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...
between the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
and the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
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 school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
s, nomination of bishops, establishment of seminaries
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
, a permanent nuncio
Nuncio
Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church...
in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, who also represents the interests of the Holy See in Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
. It was considered one of the most favorable concordats for the Holy See, and would become a basis for many future concordats.
Negotiations
The Roman Catholic religion was the religion of majority of the citizens in the Second Polish Republic (see also demographics of the Second Republic). The Polish constitution of 1921 stipulated in Article 114 that the "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 SejmSejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
(Polish parliament)." The negotiations started in 1921, and the Polish side (Minister of Religion and Education, Maciej Rataj
Maciej Rataj
Maciej Rataj was a Polish politician, socialist activist and writer.Born in the village of Chłopy near Lwów on 19 February 1884, he attended a gymnasium in Lwów and studied classical linguistics at the University of Lwów...
, lawyer Władysław Abraham and bishop Adolf Szelążek) drafted a proposal by 1923. Then the negotiations were taken over by Stanisław Grabski, who represented the endecja
Endecja
National Democracy was a Polish right-wing nationalist political movement active from the latter 19th century to the end of the Second Polish Republic in 1939. A founder and principal ideologue was Roman Dmowski...
faction, then dominant in the government. The negotiations between Grabski and Francesco Borgongini Duca
Francesco Borgongini Duca
Francesco Borgongini Duca was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Apostolic Nuncio to Italy from 1929 to 1953, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1953 by Pope Pius XII.-Biography:...
spanned four months and 23 meetings in Rome. The concordat was signed on February 10 by Pietro Gasparri
Pietro Gasparri
Pietro Gasparri was a Roman Catholic archbishop, diplomat and politician in the Roman Curia and signatory of the Lateran Pacts.- Biography :...
, Cardinal Secretary of State
Cardinal Secretary of State
The Cardinal Secretary of State—officially Secretary of State of His Holiness The Pope—presides over the Holy See, usually known as the "Vatican", Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia...
for the Holy See and Stanisław Grabski and Wladyslaw Skrzyński for Poland.
The text concordat was published in Poland in Dziennik Ustaw
Dziennik Ustaw
Dziennik Ustaw or Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej is the most important Polish publication of legal acts. It is the only official source of law for promulgation of Polish laws. The publication of this journal is solely the responsibility of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland...
. It was presented to Sejm for ratification on March 24. 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. It was ratified on March 27.
Content
Under the concordat, the Church enjoyed full protection of the State and prayed for the leaders of Poland during Sunday mass and on May 3. Clerics made a solemn oath of allegiance to the Polish State. If clergy were under accusation, trial documents would be forwarded to ecclesiastical authorities if clergy were accused of crimes. If convicted, they would not serve incarceration in jails but would be handed over to Church authorities for internment in a monastery or convent. The concordat extended to the Latin Rite in five ecclesiastical provinces: GnieznoGniezno
Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, some 50 km east of Poznań, inhabited by about 70,000 people. One of the Piasts' chief cities, it was mentioned by 10th century A.D. sources as the capital of Piast Poland however the first capital of Piast realm was most likely Giecz built around...
and Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, Warsaw, Wilno, Lwów and Cracow. It applied as well to united Catholics of the Greco-Ruthenian rite
Ruthenian Catholic Church
The Ruthenian Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church , which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Eastern Rite. Its roots are among the Rusyns who lived in the region called Carpathian Ruthenia, in and around the Carpathian Mountains...
in Lwów, and Przemyśl
Przemysl
Przemyśl is a city in south-eastern Poland with 66,756 inhabitants, as of June 2009. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it was previously the capital of Przemyśl Voivodeship....
, and to the Armenian Rite
Armenian Rite
The Armenian Rite is an independent liturgy. This rite is used by both the Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic Churches; it is also the rite of a significant number of Eastern Catholic Christians in the Republic of Georgia....
in Lwów. For religious celebration in the specific rites, Canon law was required to be observed. Catholic instruction was mandatory in all public schools, except universities. In Article 24, the Church and State recognized each other's property rights seeming in part from the time of partition before 1918. This meant that property rights and real estate titles of the Church were respected. A later agreement was to define the status of expropriated Church properties, and until that time, the State would pay Church dotations for its clergy. The concordat stipulated that no part of Polish territory could be placed under the jurisdiction of a bishop outside of Poland or not of Polish citizenship.
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
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
was supportive of this and of episcopal initiatives to have their own plenary meetings.
Concordat and Lithuania
The concordat caused a severe conflict between Holy See and LithuaniaLithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. 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. Lithuania and Poland had been in a bitter struggle for the city and the surrounding area
Vilnius region
Vilnius Region , refers to the territory in the present day Lithuania, that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time,...
since 1920 when the city was taken over by pro-Polish forces during Żeligowski's Mutiny
Zeligowski's Mutiny
Żeligowski's Mutiny was a sham mutiny led by Polish General Lucjan Żeligowski in October 1920, which resulted in the creation of the short-lived Republic of Central Lithuania. Polish Chief of State Józef Piłsudski had surreptitiously ordered Żeligowski to carry out the operation, and revealed the...
. Lithuanians submitted a protest to the Holy See and recalled its representative there; the Holy See responded in kind and all diplomatic relations between Lithuania and the Holy See were terminated. They did not improve when in April 1926 Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
unilaterally established and reorganized the Lithuanian ecclesiastical province without regard to Lithuanian demands and proposals. Popular outrage in response to the concordat was one of the reasons why the Lithuanian Christian Democrats
Lithuanian Christian Democrats
The Lithuanian Christian Democrats or LKD was a Christian-democratic political party in Lithuania. Originally established in 1905, it was closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church...
, the leading pro-Catholic party in Lithuania, lost the majority in the 1926 parliamentary elections
Fourth Seimas of Lithuania
The Fourth Seimas of Lithuania was the fourth parliament elected in Lithuania after it declared independence on February 16, 1918. The elections took place on June 9 and June 10, 1936, a bit less than ten years after the Third Seimas was dissolved by President Antanas Smetona. The Seimas commenced...
. As a result, a weak coalition government was formed; this in turn inspired a military coup d'état in December 1926
1926 Lithuanian coup d'état
The 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état was a military coup d'etat in Lithuania that resulted in the replacement of the democratically elected government with a conservative authoritarian government led by Antanas Smetona. The coup took place on December 17, 1926 and was largely organized by the military;...
. Lithuanian relations with the Holy See were normalized a few months later, on June 4, 1927, when a concordat was signed between Cardinal Secretary of State
Cardinal Secretary of State
The Cardinal Secretary of State—officially Secretary of State of His Holiness The Pope—presides over the Holy See, usually known as the "Vatican", Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia...
Pietro Gasparri
Pietro Gasparri
Pietro Gasparri was a Roman Catholic archbishop, diplomat and politician in the Roman Curia and signatory of the Lateran Pacts.- Biography :...
for the Holy See and Dr. Jurgis Šaulys
Jurgis Šaulys
Jurgis Šaulys was a Lithuanian economist, diplomat, and politician, and one of the twenty signatories to the 1918 Act of Independence of Lithuania.Šaulys attended secondary school in Palanga and attended the Kaunas Theological Seminary...
for Lithuania. The improvements in 1927 were mostly due to the efforts of Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras
Augustinas Voldemaras
Augustinas Voldemaras was a Lithuanian nationalist political figure. He served as the country's first Prime Minister in 1918, and again from 1926 to 1929.- Biography :...
.
End of the concordat
During World War II the Holy See had appointed German and Slovak priests to Polish parishes, violating the concordat. These actions have been condemned by Polish government in exile, which considered it a betrayal and issuing statement saying "Pius XII's decision is tantamount to the acceptance of illegal German demands and comprises an unfriendly act towards the Polish people".On 12 September 1945, the Polish Provisional Government issued declaration that concordat is no longer valid, citing these violations by the Church. This view is not shared by the Holy See and many Polish priests, such as Stefan Wyszyński, who consider concordat to have only been ended by Polish side by this declaration.The Pope, according to Wyszynski, never ceased to recognize Polish sovereignty and did not make any personal or territorial changes, while the frequent Holy See 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, p. 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)
In a larger context, not only Poland, but all East European countries under Soviet control cancelled their concordats with the Holy See after 1945, which can be seen as a part of the Persecutions against the Catholic Church during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII.
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, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza 1977