Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-04-10
GERMANS DISCUSS
VATICAN COMPACT
New ConCordat Said to Be
Possible as Result of Pres
emf Political Struggle.
BY MAMMALIAN HARDEN.

BY Radio to The Star.
BERLIN, April 9.-Almcst five cen
turtles have passed since Germany
concluded with the Vatican con.
cordat of long-enduring effect. And
will the present German republic
which was proclaimed by atheists and
Socialists after the collapse of two
German empires. and so years after
Bismarck's Kulturkampf against Ro-
man church domination, now decide
to conclude a new concordat?
The name "concordat" is not eX-
actly correct, for the contract which
restores to the Holy See a part Of Its
authority to regulate churchly mat
tiers is called a concordat only when
the other party is Catholic; otherwise
it is called simply convention. But
the contents are more important than
the name.
Pope Plus VII never was nrmly con-
WINGED of Napoleon's fervent Cathol-
icisnl. but the concordat concluded by
him in 1901 nevertheless determined
French church politics for a century.
Demand Was Foreseen.
That the German Catholic party
(Centerl--which supported the govern
ment during and after the war and
which co-operated in building up the
new state and furnished a chancellor
nine times in ten years-would de-
mand for its services a reward in
church and school affairs, was TO be
foreseen.
The empire never permitted the &C.
crediting of papal nuncio TO Berlin.
The first President of the republic,
the Socialist Ebert. who called him
self "undenominational," but who
again reconciled himself with the
Roman Church after his rise, permit
ted a nuncio to be accredited to Prus-
STA, Bavaria and the Reich itself, and
received Mgr. Eugenio Pacelli with
an expression of qualification that the
Reich's desire for direct relations with
the Holy Father finally had been full
filled.
Concession TO the Center.
This was a concession to the Center
party, but it also was the first step
toward a concordat. since he who re-
CARDS the Holy See as an individual
political party, with which diplomatic
relations exist, cannot in principle re-
fuse to conclude treaties with such
a power.
Nor did Mgr. Pacelli make a secret
of the fact that the aim of his mission
was such a treaty. Already-in March,
1994-a Roman Bavarian concordat
has been signed, which grants the
Holy See complete freedom to name
bishops and archbishops, and en-
powers the church to control all it's
members by laws and ordinances COW
ering religion and education; to super
wise the appointment and education of
teachers-wl1o may also be members
of priestly orders-and to create a
situation guaranteeing the schools
not merely as to the religious educa-
ton intrusted to the church-against
all damaging influences
Two-thirds Are Catholics.
This is possible in Bavaria, where
two-thirds of all the inhabitants are
Catholics. But in the German Reich
only one-third are Catholics. Here
concordat would be especially difficult,
because the 10000. 900 Catholics who
justify the Pope in concluding
treaty are, as citizens, subject to the
other contracting party.
In order to facilitate a pact with
Rome and also a corresponding educa-
tion law, the Center party let itself
be induced to enter coalition with
the German Nationals, who are more
interested in taxes and customs duties
than in education and the spiritual
needs of the people, and hence are
willing to make a profitable swap of
their Lutheranism.
But stagnant German domestic poll.
tics may be aroused into activity by
this struggle about a concordat. for
the object of the struggle is the edu-
cation of youth. And only incurably
short-sighted people fail to realize
that the power that dominates the
schools also dominates the nations
future.
(Copyright 1927