How the new Concordat maximised the powers of the Church
by Lucrezia Nicosia, 6 minutes
This is a special project done in collaboration with the Maastricht Diplomat of United Nations Student Association (UNSA). It consists of a series of four articles and four podcasts on the role of the Catholic Church within the International and European legal, social and political framework. The articles will be released on the blue&yellow blog of ECA and the Maastricht Diplomat of UNSA will provide a platform for the podcasts on Spotify.
The people that helped in the realisation of this project are Lucrezia Nicosia and Eliza Wójcik from the blue&yellow blog of ECA, Victoria Alexander, Rhiannon Read from the Maastricht Diplomat of UNSA.
By way of this project, our aim is to contribute to a more informed and just debate on the conflict between religion and secular authority. The following is the third article of the series (you can find the first article here and the second article here).
If you read my previous article, “The role of the Church within the International and European framework”, then you have a clear idea of why the 1929 Lateran Treaty had a significant impact on the world’s legal and social order. I further explained that after the fall of fascism, the Pact was changed in 1984 through a new Concordat which would have hopefully allowed Italy to cut its bonds with the spiritual authority of the Church. However, one question was left unanswered: Are we sure that the ratification of a treaty can lead that easily to the apostasy of a nation, meaning the renunciation of the Catholic belief?
According to Article 7 of the Constitution of the Italian Republic:
The State and the Catholic Church shall be, each within its own order, independent and sovereign.
Their relations shall be regulated by the Lateran Pacts. Such amendments to these Pacts as are accepted by both parties shall not require the procedure for Constitutional amendment.
By the 1980's it was clear that Italy could no longer adhere to the Lateran Treaty made by Mussolini. The Italian people were witnessing a social and legal transformation that gradually separated them from certain Christian values, such as the legalisation of divorce and abortion rights. This meant that there was no possibility for the Italian government to maintain the Catholic Church as the official state religion.
At the same time, the Church feared that the end of the fascist regime and the increased secularisation of the state would cause it to lose its political monopoly. In particular, they were concerned that some political groups could make attempts to pass legislation severing government funding for the Church or adopting legislation which would have allowed taxes supporting religious institutions to be cut back.
In 1984 the Holy See and the Italian Republic signed a new Concordat aiming to modify by consensus the framework of the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Despite the fears of the Church, this new political agreement did not cause any significant changes, as all it required was that adherents of the other religions be allowed to worship freely. Most importantly, the agreement confirmed once again the relevant position of the Church within the Italian political landscape, as:
it guaranteed economic income to the clergy through the taxes collected from Italian taxpayers.
it removed the ability of the Italian government to approve the nomination of bishops.
it recognised several freedoms of the Church, such as the one of spreading and teaching the Catholic religion, especially in schools.
One major objection that was advanced against this agreement was that it weakens the process of separation of church and state, which is an essential element for ensuring a free exercise of human rights. This can easily be illustrated by examples of societies living under religious/legal traditions that do not guarantee a high level of protection of human rights, be it Sharia, Hindu Law, Halaka or Canon Law. In this regard, Judge Lionel Murphy explained why there is a pressing need to prevent Church-state collusion:
“The history has a very important economic aspect. One of the dangers of subsidising religious institutions and granting them financial privileges (such as exemption from income tax, land and municipal rates, sales and other taxes) is that such institutions tend to become extremely wealthy, to aggrandise and to become states within a state.”
As a result, not only can the State of Vatican City impact the laws and practices of its surrounding territory - Italy - but the Holy See has also become a powerful player on the International and European stage.
Returning back to the issue of separation of church and state by way of the new Concordat, a few provisions are worthy to be mentioned to open the discussion of the next article: Article 2(1) and 4(4) of the Concordat. According to Article 2(1), "[...] the Church is assured the freedom to organise its affairs, to exercise public worship, to carry out its teaching and spiritual ministries, as well as to exercise its jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters." Furthermore, Article 4(4) states that: "Ecclesiastics are not required to divulge to magistrates or to any other officials in authority any information on persons or matters made known to them through the exercise of their ministry." To sum it up, Catholic priests are not required to notify the police if they suspect abuse within the Church. Therefore, not only did the new Concordat confirm the Church's financial privileges allowing it to become a powerful entity locally and internationally, but it also protected the Church from being investigated by the authorities in instances of sexual abuse.
For example, last year the Holy See was accused before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of having covered up cases of priests who sexually assaulted children. The case was dismissed by the Court on the grounds that the State of Vatican City enjoys sovereign immunity and that the misconduct of priests and their superiors cannot be attributed to it. Today, it has been estimated that this new Concordat has enabled the Catholic clergy to assault up to a million victims.
To conclude …
To sum up the journey we have taken in this four-part series, the previous articles have examined how religious dogma creates a self-perpetuating cycle that fuels themes of hierarchy within the Church. In this concern, we analysed and discussed the main historical events that led the Church to have extensive power both conceptually and factually. On a conceptual level, the Church holds an extensive power within the community as a result of that dogma. On a factual level, we talked about the extensive structural power wielded by the Church as an autonomous legal and institutional entity. As we previously explained, examples of this power can easily be found in the United Nations and in the Council of Europe, which are both major actors in the international sphere. It is clear that this same power enjoyed by clergy members can be and has been used in continued instances of sexual abuse in the Church. On these foundations, the following and final article will explore the accountability of Church members on a local, European, and International scale.
