Continued from
previous post –
The creation of Vatican City - 1929
The
pontificate of Pope Pius XI was marked by great diplomatic activity
and the issuance of many important papers, often in the form of
encyclicals (a letter from the pope sent to all Roman Catholic
bishops throughout the world). In diplomatic affairs, Pius was aided
at first by Pietro Gasparri and after 1930 by Eugenio Pacelli (who
succeeded him as Pope Pius XII). Cardinal Gasparri's masterpiece was
the Lateran Treaty (1929), negotiated for the Vatican by Francesco
Pacelli. Nevertheless, the Fascist government and the pope were in
open disagreement over the restriction of youth activities. This
culminated in a strong papal letter (Non abbiamo bisogno, 1931) in
that letter to all Churches world over, he was arguing the
impossibility of being at once a Fascist (a political theory
advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government as opposed to
democracy or liberalism) and a Catholic. Ironically, we see that,
during the history of Papal authority that Pope's power was
essentially a fascist rule. Pope's opposition to fascism was a part
of its hypocrisy. Relations between Mussolini and the Holy See were
cool ever after. May be, Church wanted to show democratic states that
Church is on their side!
Negotiations
for the settlement of the Roman Question began in 1926 between the
government of Italy and the Holy See. In 1929 that culminated in the
agreements of the three "Lateran Pacts", signed for King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini and
for Pope Pius XI by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri, in
the Lateran Palace (hence the name to that pact, by which they are
known).
The
Lateran Treaty 1929, included a political treaty, which created the
state of the Vatican City and guaranteed full and independent
sovereignty to the Holy See. The pope was pledged to perpetual
neutrality in international relations and to abstention from
mediation in a controversy unless specifically requested by all
parties. The covenant established Catholicism (and not Christianity!)
as the religion of Italy. And the financial agreement was accepted
as settlement of all the claims of the Holy See against Italy arising
from the loss of temporal power in 1870.
A national covenant
with Germany was one of Pacelli's main objectives as secretary of
state. As nuncio during the 1920s, he had made unsuccessful attempts
to obtain German agreement for such a treaty. Between 1930 and 1933,
he attempted to initiate negotiations with representatives of
successive German governments. However, the opposition of Protestant
and Socialist parties, the instability of national governments and
the care of the individual states to guard their autonomy thwarted
this aim. In particular, the questions of denominational schools and
clergyman work in the armed forces prevented any agreement on the
national level, despite talks in the winter of 1932.
Adolf Hitler was
appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933 and sought to gain
international respectability and to remove internal opposition by
representatives of the Church and the Catholic Center Party. He sent
his vice chancellor Franz von Papen, a Catholic nobleman and former
member of the Center Party, to Rome to offer negotiations about a
Reichskonkordat. On behalf of Cardinal Pacelli, his long-time
associate Prelate Ludwig Kaas, the out-going chairperson of the
Centre Party, negotiated first drafts of the terms with Papen. The
covenant (agreement) was finally signed, by Pacelli for the Vatican
and von Papen for Germany, on 20 July and ratified on September 10,
1933.
Continues
in next post –
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