State Church Treaty

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Giuseppe Felici : Ceremonial conclusion of a state church treaty (here Concordat with Serbia, 1914)

A state church contract is a contract between a state ( nation- state or member state ) and a religious community .

State church contracts with the Roman Catholic Church , more precisely with the Holy See , are called concordats ( Latin concordatum , agreement, contract '). According to strict Roman usage, the Holy See concordat only with a Catholic head of state , while the treaties with non-Catholic governments are called conventions . State church contracts with non-Catholic religious communities, especially with Protestant churches, are referred to as church contracts .

Insofar as it is a non-Christian religious community, it is sometimes (ambiguously) spoken of a state treaty (such as a state treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Central Council of Jews in Germany ).

Significance and legal nature

This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

The state church law created by mutual agreement (concordat law) represents a balance of state and religious interests. The regulations are not set unilaterally, but are a self-binding of the contracting parties, state sovereignty and the church's right to self-determination, which follows from the separation between religion and state , equally just becomes. After the reunification of Germany , the law of the states parties to the church regained importance through the conclusion of treaties between the new federal states and the churches .

Concordats

Concordats with the Catholic Church are subject to international law , although the Holy See is an atypical subject of international law . In this respect, they are comparable to international treaties between states , but are subject to a special legal feature. The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that concordats are exempt from the application of Article 32, Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law (“As far as the states are responsible for legislation, they can conclude treaties with foreign states with the consent of the federal government ”). This means that, as an exception, the states may act without the consent of the federal government. The constitutional judges decided that this competence follows from Art. 30 in conjunction with Art. 70 GG (cultural sovereignty of the states), Art. 32 (3) GG should not be observed as a special regulation. This also corresponds to the legal situation under the Weimar Imperial Constitution ; the constitutional convention on Herrenchiemsee did not want to extend the corresponding provisions of the Basic Law to concordats, since “the Vatican is not a foreign state ”. As a result, the concordats are treated equally with the other state church treaties. Since other religious and ideological communities are not capable of international law, the wording of Article 32.3 of the Basic Law does not require the approval of the federal government.

See also: Section "Historical and currently valid concordats"

Church treaties

Other religious communities are not subjects of international law. Church treaties are therefore (solely) subject to national law. Since the Protestant regional churches in Germany are corporations under public law , church contracts there are of a public law nature. This enables the state to act contrary to contractual obligations by changing its legal system. But that does not change the fact that he then acted in breach of treaty measured against the church treaty.

In practice, however, church treaties are treated as state treaties, so that the rules of international law apply analogously.

See also: Section "Church Treaties of the German Länder"

history

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Historically, the legal nature of state church treaties has been controversial. When in the Middle Ages state and church were understood as a unit, privilege theory saw the concordats as concessions by the church to the state. Later, when the churches were understood as subordinate to the state, legal theory understood the treaties as agreed (and thus unilaterally modifiable) state laws. Today, however, the prevailing opinion assumes that these are real contracts . A parliamentary approval law gives state church treaties the force of law.

content

The current legal situation can also be guaranteed in state church treaties, for example if the state continues to guarantee freedom of religion , church self-determination , protection of church property from secularization or state services .

However , specific agreements can also be made where the current state church law leaves room for this. Especially with the res mixtae , where the state and religious communities have to work together, agreements are common: for example, appointments to the theological faculties , religious instruction , pastoral care in the military, police, penal institutions, etc.

Sometimes religious communities have also committed themselves to comply with certain minimum requirements in the training of their clergy, to allow government agencies to participate in appointments or to leave church structures (e.g. diocese ) unchanged.

State church treaties usually end with agreements that the contracting parties will amicably resolve any problems that may arise.

Individual state church treaties

Historical and currently valid concordats

Well-known historical concordats are

Many historians consider the pontificate of Pope Pius XI as a special concordat era. classified. The overthrow of numerous European monarchies as a result of the First World War (1918) provided the opportunity for Catholicism not only to resolve the Roman question in 1929 , but also to negotiate and conclude a large number of concordats. The Cardinal Secretary of State Gasparri and his successor Pacelli, temporarily nuncio in Munich and Berlin, later Pope Pius XII. , shaped this era.

Church treaties of the German states

The Loccum Treaty (named after the place where it was signed, the Loccum Monastery ) between the State of Lower Saxony and the Protestant regional churches in Lower Saxony dated March 19, 1955, served as a model function under the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany .

The validity of state church treaties for the new federal states from the time before the founding of the German Democratic Republic is controversial. The GDR did not recognize the treaties, although not infrequently fulfilled them.

In Germany, the uncertainty introduced on the continued validity of the Holy See and the German Reich concluded on July 20, 1933 Reich Concordat in fewer concordats were concluded for a long time, as the (Protestant) in the church contracts was the case. With the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of March 16, 1957 (which affirms its continued validity) and, above all, the accession of the GDR , a renewed turn to the law of the state to be a signatory to church law has also been observed in the Roman Catholic area.

Concordats currently in force in Germany with the Roman Catholic Church

  • Bavarian Concordat of March 29, 1924
  • Prussia Concordat of June 14, 1929
  • Baden Concordat of October 12, 1932
  • Reich Concordat of July 20, 1933
  • Treaty between the State of Hesse and the Catholic dioceses in Hesse dated March 9, 1963
  • Concordat between the Holy See and the State of Lower Saxony of February 26, 1965
  • Supplementary contract between the Holy See and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia of March 26, 1984 (for special features see Article X on the possible opening clause)
  • Treaty between the Holy See and the Free State of Saxony of July 2, 1996
  • Treaty between the Holy See and the Free State of Thuringia dated June 11, 1997
  • Treaty between the Holy See and the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania of September 15, 1997
  • Treaty between the Holy See and the State of Saxony-Anhalt of January 15, 1998
  • Treaty between the Holy See and the State of Brandenburg of November 12, 2003
  • Contract between the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the Holy See dated November 21, 2003
  • Treaty between the Holy See and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg dated November 29, 2005
  • Treaty between the Holy See and the State of Schleswig-Holstein dated January 12, 2009

Contracts with the Protestant churches

  • Treaty between the Bavarian State and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria on the right of the Rhine from November 15, 1924
  • Treaty of the Free State of Prussia with the Protestant regional churches of May 11, 1931
  • Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Evangelical Church in Germany regulating Protestant military chaplaincy dated February 22, 1957
  • Treaty between the State of Schleswig-Holstein and the Evangelical Churches in Schleswig-Holstein of April 23, 1957
  • Treaty of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia with the Evangelical Churches of Rhineland and Westphalia of September 9, 1957
  • Agreement between the State of Lower Saxony and the Evangelical Churches in Lower Saxony on private schools of September 10, 1957
  • Treaty of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia with the Lippe Regional Church of March 6, 1958, amendment of September 26, 1959
  • Treaty between the State of Hesse and the Evangelical Churches in Hesse dated February 18, 1960
  • Treaty of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate with the Evangelical Churches in Rhineland-Palatinate of November 3, 1962
  • Supplementary contract between the state of Lower Saxony and the Protestant churches of March 4, 1965
  • Contract between the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the Evangelical Churches in Bremen dated October 31, 2001
  • Wittenberg Treaty between the State of Saxony-Anhalt and the Evangelical Churches in Saxony-Anhalt from September 15, 1993
  • Güstrow contract between the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg and the Pomeranian Church of January 20, 1994
  • Treaty of the Free State of Thuringia with the Evangelical Churches in Thuringia dated March 15, 1994
  • Treaty of the Free State of Saxony with the Protestant regional churches in the Free State of Saxony of March 24, 1994
  • Contract between the state of Brandenburg and the Protestant regional churches in Brandenburg dated November 8, 1996
  • Contract between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the North Elbe Evangelical Lutheran Church November 29, 2005
  • Contract between the State of Berlin and the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia dated February 20, 2006
  • Evangelical Church Treaty of Baden-Württemberg of October 17, 2007 (with the Evangelical Churches in Baden and Württemberg ; replaces the Treaty of the Free State of Baden with the United Evangelical Protestant Church of Baden from November 14, 1932 and - for the area of ​​the former Hohenzollern Lands - the Treaty of the Free State of Prussia with the Evangelical Regional Churches of May 11, 1931)

Contracts with Christian institutions on more specific subjects

  • Agreement on Protestant pastoral care in the Federal Border Guard from July 20 to 23/12. August 1965
  • Treaty of Saarland from 1968 on the theological chair at Saarbrücken University
  • Treaty of Lower Saxony with the Free Religious Community of Lower Saxony dated June 8, 1970
  • Final minutes of the State of Berlin on meetings with the Evangelical Church on July 2, 1970
  • Agreement on church service to police officers (police chaplaincy) in Saarland of October 25, 1978 (also with Roman Catholic dioceses )
  • Düsseldorf Agreement of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia on Higher Education of March 29, 1984
  • Agreement between the Free State of Saxony and the Ev. Churches in the Free State of Saxony on the regulation of pastoral activities in prisons of January 25, 1993
  • Agreement between the state of Saxony-Anhalt and the Ev. Churches in the state of Saxony-Anhalt on the regulation of pastoral activities in penal institutions of March 24, 1994
  • Agreement between the state of Saxony-Anhalt and the Ev. Churches in the state of Saxony-Anhalt via the church service to police officers
  • Contract on the provision in the church service for religious instruction at public schools in the Free State of Saxony dated September 7, 1994 (also concluded with the Catholic dioceses)
  • Framework agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Evangelical Church in Germany on Protestant pastoral care in the Bundeswehr in the new federal states of June 12, 1996

Contracts with Jewish communities

  • Agreement between the Free State of Bavaria and the State Association of the Jewish Religious Communities in Bavaria and the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria dated August 14, 1997
  • Agreement between the Berlin Senate and the Berlin Jewish Community of January 8, 1971
  • Agreement between the State of Hesse and the State Association of Jewish Communities in Hesse dated November 11, 1986
  • Agreement between the Free State of Thuringia and the Jewish State Community of November 1, 1993
  • Treaty between the State of Saxony-Anhalt and the Jewish Community in Saxony-Anhalt dated March 23, 1994
  • Agreement between the Free State of Saxony and the State Association of Jewish Communities dated June 7, 1994
  • Treaty between the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the regional association of Jewish communities dated June 14, 1996
  • Agreement between the Jewish community in Hamburg and the state of Schleswig-Holstein on the promotion of Jewish life in Schleswig-Holstein dated March 12, 1998
  • Contract between the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the regional association of the Jewish communities of Rhineland-Palatinate dated March 8, 2000
  • State treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Central Council of Jews in Germany of January 27, 2003

Treaties with Islamic associations

  • Contract between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the DITIB regional association Hamburg, SCHURA - Council of Islamic Communities in Hamburg and the Association of Islamic Cultural Centers from 2012
  • Contract between the State of Bremen, the DITIB-Landesverband Bremen, SCHURA - Council of Islamic Communities in Bremen and the Association of Islamic Cultural Centers from 2013

Concordats in Austria

On August 18, 1855, Emperor Franz Joseph I concluded a concordat with Pope Pius IX. that the church u. a. granted extensive influence on education and marriage law, but was terminated in 1870 on the initiative of the then Minister of Culture and Education Karl von Stremayr ( May Law ).

On June 5, 1933, the Austrian federal government under Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss concluded with Pope Pius XI. a new Concordat, which again strengthened the power of the Catholic Church in Austria and which was even partially granted constitutional status when it was formally ratified in 1934 ( Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Austria , Federal Law Gazette II No. 2/1934, following the May constitution announced ). Its continued application after 1945 was initially controversial, but was recognized by the federal government in 1957, so that it is still formally in force today. Subsequent partial concordats (1960 and 1962), however, changed essential provisions relating to civil marriage and the nationalization of the religious fund . Richard Potz describes the fact that the Concordat is a whole part of the Austrian constitution as a “widespread error”. However, as a treaty under international law with the Holy See as a subject of international law, it has an exceptional position.

The rest of the Austrian concordat law is characterized by the fact that state recognition goes hand in hand with the establishment of national representations as a corporation under public law (today the Catholic Church is also represented by a national institution, the Austrian Bishops' Conference , not a direct representative of the Holy See; 1983 ). Their base is a law by the state ( Protestants Law  1861 /1961 Israelitengesetz  1890/2012, Islam Act  2015 Orthodoxengesetz  1967, Oriental Orthodox Church Act  2003) or a ministerial order, the part of the religious community a Taken from the state to the attention statute. The other religions are at best organized as an association and thus a legal entity (since 2002). This then results in an abundance of partly public law, partly private law contracts on individual issues between the republic and other state institutions on the one hand and the religious communities on the other.

Since in Austria there is a largely strict separation of church and state as well as private (in principle since 1781 ) and public ( 1919 , 1958 ) freedom of belief and full right to self-determination in matters of faith (provided that they remain within the framework of legal and mandatory), treaties with churches are related and religious societies - apart from the basic supervision of the cultural office and economic affairs - only on public law matters such as religious instruction, subsidies for charity, representation in public law media and the like.

The Concordat of 1933 did not lead to a prominent position of Catholicism in the long term, but on the contrary to a common basis in the relations of the Republic of Austria to the religions and denominations by having a model effect.

See also: Differentiation of rights between recognized and unrecognized religious communities

State church treaties in France

In France , King Francis I (1515–1547) concluded the Bologna Concordat with Pope Leo X in 1516 . It was thus decided that France recognized the spiritual sovereignty of the Roman Church over the French Church. In return, the state was authorized to appoint prelates . This concordat establishes a long tradition of combining the French crown and the papacy ( Gallicanism ). Another consequence of this concordat was the classification of the Reformation ( Lutheran teaching) as dangerous to the state and thus the beginning of the Huguenot persecution in France.

With the Concordat of 1801 , Napoleon ended the spiritual and secular struggle between revolutionary France and the Catholic Church in his favor; it was signed on the side of the Holy See by Pope Pius VII .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ecclesiastical contract partners were the regional churches of the Old Prussian Union , Frankfurt / Main , Hanover (Lutheran) , Hanover (reformed) , Hesse-Kassel , Nassau , Schleswig-Holstein as well as Waldeck and Pyrmont .
  2. ↑ http://www.hamburg.de/contentblob/3551370/data/download-muslim-verbaende.pdf
  3. ↑ http://blog.initiativgruppe.de/2013/01/16/bremen-staatsvertrag-mit-den-muslimen-unterzeich/
  4. ↑ http://blog.initiativgruppe.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/islamvertrag.pdf
  5. ↑ Christine Mann: Between tradition and modernity. The Güntherian Vinzenz A. Knauer (1828–1894) in search of truth in freedom. Peter Lang, Frankfurt a. M. 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-60129-7 , p. 197.
  6. ^ Gertrud Elisabeth Zündel: "Karl von Stremayr". Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1944, p. 59.
  7. ↑ Kora Waibel: terminability the Austrian Concordat. On the possibilities and consequences of the abolition of the treaty between the Republic of Austria and the Holy See of June 5, 1933. Dissertation University of Vienna (PDF, othes.univie.ac.at; 722 kB).
  8. ↑ a b Concordat - Treaty of State and Church , article on the website of Ö1 , March 29, 2013.
  9. ↑ a b The explicit recognition of the Evangelical Church AuHB (Section 1 of the Protestant Law 1961) was given constitutional status as an equal opportunity measure in the 1960s.
  10. ↑ 80 years of the Concordat: Treaty with broad impact. religion.orf.at, 2013 (statements: Richard Potz).