Concordat Watch is an online resource containing dozens of concordat translations, (most appearing in English for the first time), as well as related documents, background articles and expert commentary. Also included is material on church-state separation (secularism), since the problem with concordats is that they infringe on this.

In the news: papal trip to the UK in September

The secret costs of papal visits

Neither the Vatican nor the politicians, (who are wooing the “Catholic vote”), want the bill made public. In Australia it was even declared a state secret. No wonder, for the papal visit cost far more than estimated and even scared off tourists. Find out more....  
 

EU lawyers warn:
Concordats endanger human rights

Concordats help enforce Canon Law, the Vatican version of Sharia

Under Canon Law wife beating is no ground for divorce — in fact, nothing is. Therefore if you've been married in a Catholic Church, which means under Canon Law, you may find that a concordat has deprived you of your right to a civil divorce. The Polish concordat phrases it with great delicacy (1993, Article 10.2), calling for the state to put in place carefully unstated legislation which could enforce an indissoluble “concordat marriage”. But the Dominican concordat (1954, Article 15.2) says explicitly that people married in a Catholic church, and therefore under Canon Law, may never file for a divorce. So, too, did the Portuguese concordat concluded with Salazar (1940, Article 24). At least in those countries divorce remained legal, even if one had to leave the Church to get one. However, divorce was impossible under both the Italian concordat with Mussolini (1929, Art. 34) and the Spanish one with Franco, (1953, Art. 23-25). It is still impossible in Malta, and the 1993 Marriage Concordat ensures that it will remain so. which could serve to tightened up concordat marriage by eliminated the loophole 

In a separate development the Pope issued a decree in December 2009 which could serve to tighten up concordat marriage by eliminating a loophole used by those who had left the Church in order to get a civil divorce. This had freed Catholics who had “formally defected” from the Church from its regulations, that is, from Canon Law. “This [meant] that a defecting Catholic could validly be married in a civil ceremony, for example, without a dispensation.” Now, however, that clause has been eliminated: “All Catholics are bound by canonical form in marrying, period.” Including those who consider themselves ex-Catholics. Countries whose marriage laws closely mirror Canon Law will now be under pressure to conform to this decree and prevent even ex-Catholics from ever getting a divorce.

Other concordat clauses enforce Canon Law on the employees of Church-run institutions, even though these are funded by the state. For example, the concordat with Hitler (1933, Article 24) is used to this day to fire teachers in Catholic schools if they remarry after a civil divorce.

Through these intimidated Church employees, concordats can be used to enforce Canon Law on the general public. The Slovak “conscience concordat” would have prevented doctors in Church-run hospitals from performing abortions or nurses from giving out information about family planning, since it gave them the “right” to claim that this went against their religious conscience. And, of course, if they didn't exercise this “right” to impose Canon Law on others, they'd lose their jobs. In a rural area where the only hospital may be Church-run, this can effectively limit access to what are in Slovakia perfectly legal services.

At this point legal experts appointed by the European Union put their foot down. They stated firmly that denying access to such services, Canon Law or no Canon Law, was a violation of international Human Rights. Read more... 

News from Concordat Watch

Concordats, human rights and church-state separation 

♦  Expect a new concordat with Belarus

Europe's last dictator” seeks Vatican acceptance
President Lushenko of Belarus is a promising concordat partner. With his record of gaoling politicians who oppose him he should have no trouble getting the impending concordat ratified. And, because he’s shunned internationally, he's eager to do whatever takes to get Vatican recognition.

♦  Expect more talk of “duties”

Vatican attack on human rights dressed up as need to counterbalance rights with duties
“Rights and duties go together, says Pontiff ”(28 May 2010) This is a spinoff from the Pope's attack on human rights in last summer’s Caritas in Veritate. An open assault on human rights would be publically damaging for the Vatican and it wants to be able, when convenient, to call for “the right to religious freedom”. Thus the attack must be roundabout: here is how it works 
 

♦  Expect continued erosion of Czech resistance to Vatican demands

Is the Vatican playing “good cop, bad cop” to advance Church interests?
An archbishop who publically questioned President Vaclav Klaus’ fitness for office has been replaced by one who goes with him on pilgrimages and gives him Christmas gifts. Archbishop Dominik Duka, the “smiling diplomat”, has been in office only a few weeks, but already he has managed to remove a roadblock to the concordat that Klaus once claimed he’d never sign.

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