Pacelli reports to Gasparri about Catholic political leaders in Bavaria advocating more strongly for Church interests - July 3, 1919
Source: Timeline
July 3, 1919 Pacelli reports to Gasparri about Catholic political leaders in Bavaria advocating more strongly for Church interests.
English translation
Also on July 3rd, Achille Ratti (Pope Pius XI, 1922-1939), Vatican delegate to the new nation of Poland since 1918, is named Apostolic Nuncio to Poland and appointed titular Archbishop.
July 3, 1919 Pacelli to Gasparri:
Most Reverend Eminence,
In my respectful Report sent around the 20th of this June (I cannot indicate the precise date, because I transmitted the text, as customary, to Munich for the necessary registration in the Archive), dealing with the current political-religious situation in Bavaria, and particularly the recent Constitution proposal and the agreements (Vereinbarungen) concluded among the parties that entered into the new coalition Cabinet, I had the honor to report to Your Eminence how, in calling the attention of the Archbishop of Munich to various points contained in those agreements that do not conform to the principles of the Church, I had repeatedly and in a special way insisted upon the necessity that Catholics always have regard for the Concordat existing between the Holy See and Bavaria, the provisions of which cannot be licitly altered in any way without the prior consent of the Holy See itself. I caused a similar admonition to be made also, in another confidential and indirect way, to the leaders of the Bavarian Volkspartei (former Center Party).
These measures were not without result. I read, in fact, in the Bavarian newspapers reaching me now (cf. Number 278 herein –Enclosure I – from the Augsburger Postzeitung), that on this June 25th the Commission charged with examining the aforesaid Constitution proposal initiated a general discussion in Bamberg. One of the first speakers was Deputy Held of the Bavarian Volkspartei, who, after raising other criticisms against this proposal, added, “Some provisions make possible some conflicts between the Cabinet Ministry and the Landtag, between the State and religious societies. Moreover, I do not see clearly what position Bavaria is taking vis-à-vis public treaties that it concluded up to now. Is there perhaps thought of a unilateral breaking of the Concordat? Does the Government have relations with the Holy See? The Bavarian Catholic population cannot be indifferent to this. Has the Government informed the Roman Curia of its existence? Still such an act would have been a necessary obligation of international courtesy. The President of the Reich, Ebert, certainly notified the Supreme Pontiff of the formation of his Government. When the Nuncio in Munich was threatened by Bolsheviks at the time of the dictatorship of the Councils, the then Soviet Minister, Dr. Lipp, apologized. [footnote by Pacelli: This detail is not historically exact, as is already known to Your Eminence.] Has Minister President Hoffmann taken steps to right the wrong committed then against the Nuncio? Has the Constitution proposal been submitted to the supreme ecclesiastical Authorities, to have their judgment about the provisions regarding the Church and the school? Why is it not possible to provide for parish appointments?
“Mid- and lower-level officials allow the files to lie idle, since they do not receive further instructions as to what concerns the relations between the State and the Holy See. The rights of religious societies are not regulated in the proposal in a sufficient manner; in this regard the Constitutions of Württemberg and Baden are much more favorable and clear. In our proposal there is lacking any distinction between recognized and unrecognized religious societies, and it is not said if these have the rights of public corporations...” [ellipsis in the original]
Minister President Hoffmann, being an anti-religious Socialist, could not dodge these insistent and categorical requests directed to him by the Catholic deputy. He responded: “The Government has opined that the current state of the issue does not yet make it necessary to present the proposal to the supreme ecclesiastical Authorities. The Concordat continues to be in effect. In sections 1 and 2 of paragraph 13 the relevant principles are enunciated. At the time when the drafting becomes definitive, there will be negotiations with the Roman Curia for an immediate reform, modification or abolition of the Concordat.” After having then said, moreover, that the agreements between the three parties of the coalition must form the basis of the new Bavarian Constitution, except naturally any contrary provisions of the Reich Constitution, Mr. Hoffmann expressed himself in this way about the future diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Bavaria: “The German Empire (Reich) will create a Legation at the Vatican. As is well known, the Bavarian Legations will probably stand abolished by the Reich Constitution. It is doubtful that along with a Legation of the Reich there could also remain in Rome a Legation of Bavaria. Minister Preger is presently negotiating at my charge in this way with the central Government.”
The Catholic press echoed the words of Deputy Held. The Bayerischer Kurier of June 26 (Enclosure II) published a notable article – whose substance was also disseminated abroad by a telegram from the Wolff Agency – which, taking off on the issue of appointments to the parishes, where prolonged vacancies have caused grave harms to pastoral care and to the interests of the clergy, attacks the Bavarian Government for not having engaged with the Holy See for the purpose of resolving the pending political-ecclesiastical controversies. The newspaper deems that if this Government would engage with it, then the Holy See, in accordance with its custom, would not be averse to the introduction of a provisional modus vivendi, for example conceding in the issue of the parishes that the State would still continue to exercise the right of presentation, naturally on the condition that it would fulfill, in its turn, its correlative Concordat obligations.
In reporting the above to Your Eminence, I humbly bow ...
Source: www.Pacelli-Edition.de, Dokt 261