Pacelli sends note to German Government saying what the Reich is offering to the Church is less than what the Concordat requires - Sept. 2, 1934
Sept. 2, 1934 Pacelli sends note to German Government saying what the Reich is offering to the Church is less than what the Concordat requires.
Excerpt in English translation
Sept. 2, 1934 Diplomatic Note from Cardinal Pacelli to Dr. Klee, Chargé d’Affaires of German Embassy to Vatican:
Mr. Chargé d’Affaires,
I faithfully request that Your Excellency bring the following to the attention of the German Reich Government.
The review of the Bishops’ report on the negotiations that took place between the representatives of the Bishops and the Reich Government ... leads the Holy See to state the following:
1. What the representatives of the German Reich Government have insisted upon, in various essential matters, is less than what the Concordat guarantees by way of freedom for the Church, and thus cannot be considered a reasonable implementation of the Concordat by the judgment of the Holy See nor by the viewpoint of the German Bishops ... Further negotiations with the German Bishops’ representatives are thus necessary, to agree on the required modifications...
2(a) The express exclusion from political party activity under Reich Concordat Art. 31, section 2, does not entail for Catholic organizations any restriction on their collaboration for the common good in the spirit of the classic encyclicals of recent Popes...
Source: German Archives, reprinted in Albrecht, Note Exchange, vol. 1, pp. 184-185.