For the sake of a thought experiment, let us briefly use the subjunctive in history and imagine that the monarchy had never been abolished in Bavaria: then the friendly older gentleman who was greeted with “Royal Highness” at the Catholic Academy on Tuesday would actually be one and would probably be called King Franz instead of Duke Franz, because the head of the House of Wittelsbach is not simply called “Lord of Bavaria” on official occasions.
This king would then have appointed Munich cardinal Reinhard Marx as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, or not, because that would have been his job according to the Concordat of 1817. And Markus Söder would perhaps be somewhere in this king’s cabinet, or not. However, he would not be allowed to speak on that day and there would be nothing to say anyway, as there was no reason to do so.
But because it is only a thought experiment, all these gentlemen will come together on Tuesday to celebrate 100 years of the Concordat, the treaty between Bavaria and the Holy See that was concluded in 1924 – after the revolution and the end of the monarchy.
It not only regulates that the church receives so-called state benefits, but also the appointment of bishops, how professorships at universities are filled and that Catholic religious teachers are only allowed to teach in schools if the bishop grants a “Nihil obstat”, i.e. has no objection.
“Concordats were never undisputed,” says Cardinal Marx, but this international treaty is nevertheless an expression of good relations and not only a “historical magnitude” but also an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between church and state. Marx makes this clear that he does not want to fundamentally change anything about the concordat, even though there are repeated efforts to at least disentangle the financial relationships. The traffic light government in Berlin has also set out to do this, but so far nothing more than a few discussions have taken place. The Association for Freedom of Thought has just called for the concordat to be terminated. There are also repeated critical voices from the Greens and the SPD.
The churches receive money because churches and monasteries were expropriated during the secularization at the beginning of the 19th century. All federal states except Hamburg and Bremen therefore pay around 550 million euros per year to the Catholic and Protestant churches nationwide. In Bavaria, the figure is currently 77 million for the Catholic and 27 million for the Evangelical Lutheran Church. This does not include the maintenance of church buildings, which amounts to another 27 million euros.
There are always discussions about this, as this means that all taxpayers are involved in state services, even those who do not belong to a Christian church. “I expect the complexity to be recognized,” says Marx. “I will not go along with simply saying, ‘You’ve had enough now.'” If you add up everything that Christians provide for the general public, it would be many times more than what the state pays, says Marx, citing as examples church institutions such as kindergartens and old people’s homes, but also educational institutions such as the Catholic Academy or churches, which are open to everyone.
Marx found an ally in Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder. Although he is Protestant, he never misses an opportunity to demonstrate his religious loyalty and is almost a regular guest at the Vatican. He would probably also appoint bishops if the concordat gave him jurisdiction. But it doesn’t, so he has to make do with the Bavarian bishops taking an oath to the Bavarian constitution. To the Prime Minister, at least.
He calls the 77 million euros per year “money well spent” and calls for an end to the debate about state benefits. Most of the state premiers of the other federal states are of the same opinion, and no one except Bavaria can afford to replace state benefits with a one-off sum of billions. In addition, such a payment would trigger an “incredible debate about envy” and he will not accept this kind of “culture war”.
Of course, a song of praise for Bavaria and its Christian character is a must on such an occasion. Söder proves this by saying that in the Free State people say “Grüß Gott” instead of “Tagchen” as in the north or “Morgen, morgen” – whereby he presumably means “Moin, moin”. He takes a very broad approach, speaking out against relaxing abortion laws and assisted suicide, for religious education in schools and of course for “the most important thing: the cross”. He would never take down a summit cross and put up wind turbines in its place, he says, needless to say that nobody has asked for this.
The number of people leaving the church is at a record level
And despite all the assurances, even in predominantly Catholic Bavaria, out of a population of just under 13 million, only 5.8 million people belong to the Catholic Church. The number of people leaving the church is at a record level.
Klaus Unterburger, Professor of Church History of the Middle Ages and the Modern Era at Ludwig Maximilian University, calls the 1924 Concordat a “fundamental turning point”. After the revolution of 1918, the monarchy was over and the question arose whether the old Concordat from 1817 was still valid. Both the government of Bavaria’s first Prime Minister Kurt Eisner and Bavaria’s bishops would have answered in the affirmative, the former revolutionaries simply assumed the royal rights in appointing bishops and filling parishes. But since the 1919 Imperial Constitution stipulated that each religious community would manage its own affairs, the other view prevailed, said Unterburger. A new Concordat had to be negotiated.
This was done on the church side by the Apostolic Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, and from the church’s point of view he negotiated quite well. Whereas previously the king nominated the bishops, in future the state was to stay out of it and the pope alone was to decide. Elsewhere in Germany the cathedral chapter can choose a bishop from three proposals from Rome.
Pacelli also secured religious instruction in schools, theological faculties at universities and colleges, and of course state services for the church. It is questionable whether Bavaria paid too high a price, says Unterburger. The state had a great interest in concluding a concordat, if only to preserve a modicum of Bavarian independence from Berlin Unitarianism. In addition, the Bavarian People’s Party, the largest party at the time, was dominated by many church-friendly politicians who even feared a de-Christianization of Bavaria after the end of the monarchy.
After the lecture, State Chancellery Chief Florian Herrmann summed it up like this: He had learned “how Pacelli ripped us off back then.” Nevertheless, he also sees a cooperation that has been established over decades, “from which the state and society benefit.” Need for change? No.