Pacelli writes Bavarian Education Minister Franz Matt that if the Bavarian Government does not yield and agree to the Pope having power to choose Bishops, the Government will be responsible for the failure of the Concordat negotiations - Sept. 11, 1923
Source: Timeline
Sept. 11, 1923 Pacelli writes Bavarian Education Minister Franz Matt that if the Bavarian Government does not yield and agree to the Pope having power to choose Bishops, the Government will be responsible for the failure of the Concordat negotiations.
German original at www.Pacelli-Edition.de and English translation
Sept. 11, 1923 Pacelli to Matt:
Your Excellency!
The Holy See has not failed to turn its full attention to the Memorandum with the esteemed Note of July 21 this year, supplemented by the writings of July 25 and August 1, which was most kindly delivered to me by Your Excellency, and has now imparted to me the honorable task of informing Your Excellency of the answer to the statements given there...
Article III sections 1 and 2.
Notwithstanding the special importance of these points and the weighty reasons (as presented in Note No. 27728 of this June 16th) that showed the retention of the provision as proposed by the Holy See to be advisable and just, the Holy See will not reject the proposed wording from the Bavarian State Government, trusting that the spirit of extreme accommodation that has animated the Holy See consistently in the present negotiations will be appropriately appreciated and reciprocated by the Government...
Article XIV section 1.
The Holy See takes the matter as indeed settled, that the Bavarian Government accepts the text set forth by the Holy See insofar as it establishes the principle that the appointment of Archbishops and Bishops is a matter for the Holy See, as the Holy See will ascertain semi-officially, before the publication of the Bull of appointment, whether any objections of a political nature exist against a candidate.
Nevertheless, the Holy See cannot accept the new proposal of the Government, whereby the Chapter, upon a vacancy in an Archdiocesan or Diocesan See, delivers a proposed list with the names of at least two candidates to the Holy See, which will then appoint one of the proposed candidates. Such a proposal differs only as a matter of form from that of election of Bishops by the Chapter, which has been declared unacceptable. It would thereby completely preclude the vote of the Bavarian Bishops in the selection of candidates, of which it is to be presumed that the Bishops have a broader view of the religious needs of Bavaria than do the members of a Cathedral Chapter. Furthermore, the proposal would reduce the task of the Holy See practically to nothing, even though it is simultaneously recognized that the appointment of Archbishops and Bishops is a matter for It. It has caused the Holy Father considerable pain to perceive that the Government of a predominantly Catholic State insists so much on shutting out the Holy See from the selection of Bishops, as if the Holy See had not always shown toward Bavaria the most opportune care and as if the Bishops chosen by Rome had not served well for religion and for their Fatherland.
If the Holy See wanted now, finally, to give in to Bavaria in such a vitally important matter for the Church, it would retain no convincing arguments for denying the same privilege to all other Catholic States; that would, apart from the easily foreseeable confusion, undoubtedly effect a considerable dissolving of the bonds that tie all Churches to the See of Peter.
Based on these considerations, and for many other reasons, which will be passed over in the interest of brevity, the Holy Father has decided after careful consideration and lengthy prayer to stick to his position, which I had the honor to communicate to Your Excellency in my Note No. 27488 of May 26th this year, in which He allowed the Bavarian Chapters to submit their candidate lists directly to the Holy See every three years; the Holy See reserves the freedom to choose from these as well as from the lists submitted by the most reverend Bavarian Bishops. So that the Bavarian Government may nevertheless not believe that the Holy Father has paid no regard to their desire and has not considered an accommodation to the extent possible, He has – going to the furthest limits of His ability to compromise – let the matter rest with this amendment; that in the event of a vacancy of a Bishopric, only the interested Chapter – even if it has just recently sent the other Bavarian Chapters its aforementioned triennial list – will be convened in a new session within the established timeframe and procedures, in order to establish a new list of worthy and approved candidates for the office of Bishop and to submit the list to the Holy See. The latter will consider this list along with the earlier submitted triennial lists of the various Chapters and Bishops, while preserving its complete freedom.
The foregoing is the absolute most that the Holy See can concede, so that any further pressure in relation to this matter would be pointless, and a posture of rejection by the Bavarian Government as to this point would thus bring the Concordat negotiations definitively to failure, for the alleviation of which the Holy See has shown such great accommodation on all other points. The Holy See can nonetheless not help but observe that, if the Government were not to accept the rightful considerations of His Holiness, the responsibility for the failure of the negotiations would fall upon it; for it would not be understandable how the Bavarian State cannot be sufficiently protected by the proposed provisions, according to which the candidates for the office of Bishop must have German citizenship, must have received a graduation certificate from a high school recognized by the Bavarian State, after which, moreover, the lists of Bishop candidates from the Bavarian Cathedral Chapters and the Bavarian Bishops must be compiled, and finally the Holy See, before publishing the Bull of appointment, must ascertain that the Government has raised no objections of a political nature against the chosen person...
Source: Historical Archive of the Secretariat of State (Holy See), Section for Relations with States, AA.EE.SS., Baviera, 1918-1922, pos. 72, vol. III, fol. 244r-251r, reprinted in www.Pacelli-Edition.de, Document No. 1974.