Pacelli reports to Gasparri that in the midst of acute crisis in the German Government, and the formation of a new Cabinet under Chancellor Wirth, Wirth has asked to open negotiations for a Reich-Vatican Concordat - Nov. 16, 1921
Source: Timeline
Nov. 16, 1921 Pacelli reports to Gasparri that in the midst of acute crisis in the German Government, and the formation of a new Cabinet under Chancellor Wirth, Wirth has asked to open negotiations for a Reich-Vatican Concordat. English translation
Nov. 16, 1921 Pacelli to Gasparri:
November 16, 1921 Pacelli to Gasparri Re: Trip to Berlin – Political situation in Germany – Negotiations for a Concordat with the Reich
The political situation in Germany is currently going through a rather critical period.
The former Wirth Cabinet (as I predicted to Your Reverend Eminence in my respectful encrypted cable no. 397 of October 12th) resigned as a result of the unfavorable decision concerning Upper Silesia. The Chancellor had in fact justified, in the face of public opinion, his so-called “fulfillment policy” toward the burdens imposed by the London ultimatum, by the consideration that in this way Germany would succeed in preserving this important territory. For many deputies this was the only reason they had voted in favor of accepting this ultimatum. “Save Upper Silesia by means of a faithful policy of fulfillment however extreme”: this was the thinking that guided the Chancellor in the development of his policy. The hopes thus aroused in the German people, perhaps not very prudently, were bitterly disappointed by the decision in Geneva, which the English Ambassador to Berlin, Lord Abernon, did not hesitate to characterize, in speaking to me, as an “injustice” to Germany. Chancellor Wirth, who had repeatedly announced that he would resign in case of such an unfavorable outcome, thus had no alternative but to resign.
The Center Party then thought it would be possible to form, in place of the former, a larger coalition, which would thus include also the German People’s Party (Deutsche Volkspartei). The negotiations initiated in that regard were already rather far advanced when an unexpected breach arose because of the insuperable resistance that the leaders of the German People’s Party encountered among their delegation. This party then decided to reject the execution of the Geneva decision; the Democrats and the Bavarian People’s Party took the same position, while the Center Party and the Socialists remained the only ones disposed to consent to the sending of a Commission for negotiations about Upper Silesia. In this way the situation became extremely complicated. A Cabinet of the right was impossible for obvious reasons of foreign policy; the Center Party had announced itself against a coalition with only the Socialists, and these for their part rejected the proposal to form a Cabinet Ministry by themselves. The Reich President, who had threatened to resign if faced with such a situation, which seemed to have no way out and was an all the more critical situation by the fact that there were only two days left before the date set by the Entente for the naming of the aforesaid Commission, ended by turning anew to Wirth, imploring him to form a Cabinet that could at least provisionally see out the completion of business, since it was not possible to form a Government on a larger base. Wirth accepted, and faced with the gravity of the hour, the Center Party delegation did not dare to oppose. Thus was born the new Cabinet Ministry, composed of four members of the Center Party (Wirth as Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Hermes as commissary and provisional finance minister; Fr. Brauns for labor; Giesberts for post) and of four Majority Socialists (Bauer as Vice Chancellor and Treasury Minister; Köster = Interior; Schmidt = Economics; Radbruch = Justice). The Democrat Gessler has remained Minister of Defense, even though his party has exited the coalition.
This solution has drawn even more upon the Center Party the opposition of the parties of the right; and Catholics of nationalist tendency and thus against the policy of submission before the Entente followed by Wirth and the Center Party itself, are distancing themselves in ever greater numbers and going to increase the ranks of the German Nationalists and the German People’s Party, in which the Protestant spirit reigns. If things should continue in this way, it would make for a rather dangerous period of a lasting schism among German Catholics, and the strength of the Center Party could collapse with incalculable consequences for the interests of the Church in Germany.
Shortly thereafter crisis came also upon the Prussian Cabinet with the resignation of Minister President Stegerwald, who is a Center Party deputy. At the head of the new Cabinet Ministry, composed of the Socialists, the Center Party, the Democrats and the German People’s Party, is the Socialist Braun. The Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs is Dr. Bölitz, director of the gymnasium in Soest and belonging to the German People’s Party. He has been proudly associated with various Socialist and Democratic organs, which attribute reactionary tendencies to him, and some Center Party newspapers also accuse him of intolerance toward Catholics. Certainly the current Government in Prussia represents, compared to its predecessor, a notable worsening as regards the Church. The former Minister Dr. Becker has returned as State Secretary in the same Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs.
After the colloquy Your Reverend Eminence had with the German Ambassador on the issue of the request to name an Apostolic Administrator in the Saar District (Dispatch No. 27237 of the 8th of this month), a colloquy that did not fail to produce the desired impression, I was made aware that in Berlin there was a desire to speak to me as soon as possible. I therefore left without delay for the Capital, in conformity with the authorization imparted to me by Your Eminence, and on the morning of the 11th I was received by the Chancellor. He described to me first of all the very grave and so to speak somewhat desperate financial situation of Germany and then, after having mentioned the aforesaid issue of the Saar District, expressed to me his desire that there be initiated, without the slightest delay, negotiations for a Concordat with the Reich. This request he renewed the following day and then also by writing a letter dated the 14th of this month, a copy of which I have the honor to enclose herewith for Your Eminence, together with the Italian translation. (Enclosures I and II) Although for multiple reasons already noted to Your Eminence, it would have been preferable that the negotiations be commenced only after concluding the Bavarian Concordat, it seemed to me nonetheless, all things considered, impossible to reject such a request; and thus, by the Note of the following day, the 15th, which I likewise carry out my duty to enclose herewith in German text and Italian translation (Enclosures III and IV), and in which I took care to include, for good effect, the explicit clause “reserving possible future modifications and additions,” I sent Dr. With the points containing the desires of the Holy See in this regard. These points were prepared by me, as You will undoubtedly recall, taking into account the preferences expressed by the Fulda Bishops Conference in March of this year in Rome, where they met with the approbation of the Holy Father and Your Eminence. As a result of discussions I had with competent personages and of some observations put forward by His Eminence Cardinal Bertram, there were some modifications introduced little by little, but only of a secondary order, and, as to what concerns the Theological Faculties and the school question, I substituted for the original edition the new formula adopted for Bavaria (cf. Report No. 17896 of September 11, 1920 and No. 20850 of June 8, 1921, and Dispatches No. 13174 of November 24, 1920 and No. 21860 of June 21, 1921). Finally on the 12th of this month, by the express desire of the Chancellor, the same points were discussed confidentially in my presence in a long session, participating in which were His Excellency Mr. Spahn, Reichstag deputy and former Justice Minister in Prussia; Dr. Porsch, Vice President of the Prussian Landtag and Head of the Center Party delegation in that Landtag; Mr. Marx, Privy Councilor, Head of the Center Party delegation in the Reichstag, President of the pro-Schola organization of the Volksverein; and Rev. Msgr. Kaas, Professor of Canon Law in Trier and a deputy in the Reichstag. Some wise modifications, suggested during the discussion, were added by me into the definitive text, which Your Eminence will find, also translated into Italian, in Enclosures V and VI. It is also noteworthy that the points under discussion represented the complete matter proposed by the Holy See for the negotiations; nevertheless a further examination of them will show which of them can be included in a Reich Concordat, and which instead, under the norms of the German Constitution, will have to be left to eventual later Concordats or particular agreements with individual States.
By the immediate commencement of Concordat negotiations, the Reich Government obviously wanted to remove the feared danger of the naming of an Apostolic Administrator for the Saar. If this Government can indeed be kept under the pressure of current events, it would be disposed at the present moment not unfavorably in regard to concluding a Concordat, whose necessity for imperative political reasons is recognized not only by the Catholic Chancellor Dr. Wirth, but also by the Socialist Interior Minister Dr. Köster, with whom I had occasion to talk. These dispositions of the Reich Government will encounter, however, as can be foreseen, rather strong opposition in many of the individual States, which must give their approval in the Reich Council to this proposal, and above all in Prussia, which, according to what I have already mentioned in my obsequious Report No. 22173 of this October 27th, is opposed in principle to including the school question in the Concordat. For my part, I have not failed to make clearly understood on all occasions that, to the extent this point were to remain excluded, the Holy See would no longer have, if it can be said, any interest in agreeing to such a Concordat and thus it cannot be seen how it could be induced to consent to it; the Government, however, would then naturally have to suffer the inevitable consequences of such a state of affairs, created by its own position.
To complicate still further the already difficult and complicated situation, there is also the question of the relationship between the Bavarian Concordat and that for the Reich. As indeed Your Eminence will undoubtedly recall, in November last year I succeeded without effort in obtaining from then Minister of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, Dr. Simons, a written communication, in which he declared having nothing against the continuing to a conclusion of the negotiations for the Bavarian Concordat, and moreover that this would not concern later laws of the Reich (Report No. 18532 of November 14, 1920). That however aroused the jealousy of the Prussian Government, which (as a further result of the letter sent to me by date of June 21st this year by then Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs Dr. Becker, and that I have the honor also to enclose here with the corresponding Italian translation (Enclosures VII and VIII), repeatedly requested that the Bavarian Concordat also would remain included in the general one for the Reich, adding that, if Bavaria would instead have to have a concordat entirely separate and independent, Prussia would also claim for itself the same right. It is clear, then,, that in the event an entirely separate and independent Concordat were stipulated, then Prussia would claim for itself the same right. It is also clear that in the event a separate Concordat were stipulated also for Prussia, there would only remain little or no hope of concluding a Concordat for the Reich, since in the remainder of the States (in many of which the Socialists and Protestants dominate), it would not be possible to assemble a favorable majority, and thus it would no longer be possible (and this would be a grave misfortune) for the Catholics of the Diaspora to come to help in this way. Despite these non-negligible difficulties, I have always striven up to now to maintain the point of view of a separate Concordat with Bavaria, whether because a renunciation or yielding in this matter would cause (at least so far as I could confirm) strong disappointment among the the Bavarian Catholics and Bishops, or whether above all because such has seemed to me to be the will of the Holy See (for example, in Dispatch No. 20766 of May 20, 1921 it speaks explicitly of a “Concordat that is hoped to be concluded between Germany – excluding Bavaria – and the Holy See”), a desire represented, so to speak, tangibly by the maintenance of the Munich Nunciature. The Berlin Government, which feels discomfort in connection with the aforesaid statement of Dr. Simons, and would long for a Concordat for the Reich including also Bavaria, has not failed to indicate to be in recent days such a desire, moreover emphasizing that the obstacles to the conclusion of the aforesaid Concordat would multiply; but I have avoided giving them reason to hope on this point. The Chancellor has benefited also from the nearly contemporaneous presence in the Capital of the Bavarian Minister President, Count von Lerchenfeld, to discuss the delicate issue, without however coming to a solution; in this way the negotiations for the Concordat with Bavaria, in conformity to the oft-mentioned statement, will continue meanwhile as the most important.
In the meantime, another issue has arisen, which, as has been confirmed to me, worries the German Government no less than that of the Saar District, and can thus represent in the hands of the Holy See a new effective weapon for the concordat negotiations with the Reich: that is to say the ordering of ecclesiastical administration in the eastern territories lost to Germany, and in particular in the Free State of Danzig and in the part of Upper Silesia awarded to Poland. On this last point, Reich President Ebert as well as Chancellor Dr. Wirth have already asked me warmly to interest the Holy See; moreover, the German Embassy, as has been reported to me, will soon present proposals about this to Your Eminence. Now, in the judgment of competent persons, to exert pressure on the Prussian Government and seek to overcome its resistance, especially toward the inclusion of the school question in the Concordat, it would be of great importance if the Holy See – naturally without giving for now a formal promise, which would immediately remove from the weapon all its effectiveness – would nonetheless give in some way the impression of benevolent dispositions in this regard, in the event of a happy result in the concordat negotiations. Allow me therefore, subordinately, to call in this way, upon this rather important point, the superior attention of Your Eminence. After which, humbling bowing ...
Source: www.Pacelli-Edition.de, Dokt 10433