Reichskonkordat
The Reichskonkordat is a treaty negotiated between the Vatican and the emergent Nazi Germany. It was signed on 20 July 1933 by Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, on behalf of Pope Pius XI; and by Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of President Paul von Hindenburg and the German government. It was ratified on 10 September 1933 and it remains in force. The treaty guarantees the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany. When bishops take office, Article 16 states that they are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Governor or President of the German Reich established according to the constitution. The treaty also requires all clergy to abstain from working in and for political parties. Breaches of the agreement by the Nazis began soon after it was signed, and escalated throughout their rule. The Church protested, including in the 1937 Mit brennender Sorge encyclical of Pope Pius XI. The Nazis planned to eliminate the Church's influence by restricting its organizations to purely religious activities.
