concordat n : a signed written agreement between two or more parties (nations) to perform some action [syn: covenant, compact]

English

Noun

1. A formal agreement between two nations; a compact
2. (often capitalized) An agreement between the Pope and a government that recognizes and regulates Catholic affairs
   • 1820, Theodore Lyman, The Political State of Italy

     That eminent and independant statesman, Count Louis of Medicis, concluded a concordat with cardinal Gonsalvi, at Terracina, on the 16th February, 1816, probably the most humiliating instrument to which the Roman court has been forced to submit since the fall of the Bonapartes.

   • 1846, William Scott, The Christian Remembrancer

     The Concordat of the See of Rome with King Diniz is the most interesting ecclesiastical epoch […].

   • 2000, Bruno Kreisky, Matthew Paul Berg, The Struggle for a Democratic Austria: Bruno Kreisky on Peace and Social Justice, page 486

     Later, he also promoted a significant degree of reconciliation between the Austrian social democratic movement and the Roman Catholic Church through the negotiation of the 1960 Concordat.

A concordat usually refers to an agreement between the Apostolic See and a government of certain country on religious matters, although it is also used in relation to some other agreements in internal United Kingdom politics.

Papal concordat

This often included both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country. Privileges might include the right to have Catholic schools, exemptions from certain legal matters and processes, and issues such as taxation as well as the right of a state to influence the selection of bishops within its territory. Although formally the term 'concordat' was last used in 1980, concordats and similar type agreements between the Vatican and both national and international bodies such as the European Union, continue to be made.

The Vatican has been particularly vocal on issues of abortion in Ireland and Portugal, and in attempting to ensure references to Christianity in the prospective EU constitution. Less high profile are agreements concerning taxation and partial state funding of Catholic owned institutions such as orphanages, homes for the elderly and hospices for those suffering from AIDS.

United Kingdom

The term is also used for agreements setting out the framework for co-operation between United Kingdom government departments and the Scottish Government and the Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales: for examples see DEFRA. In other jurisdictions such as Australia and the United States, the term Memorandum of Understanding, often just MOU, is more prevalent.

List of concordats

• Concordat of Worms (1122) between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V
• Concordat of Bologna (1516) between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X
• Concordat of 1753 with Spain
• Concordat of 1801 between Pope Pius VII and Napoléon
• Concordat of Fontainebleau (1813) between Pope Pius VII and Napoléon
• Concordat of 5 June 1817, with Bavaria
• Concordat of 11 June 1817, with France
• Concordat of 1847 (3 August) with Russia
• Concordat of 1851 (16 March) with Spain
• Concordat of 1855 between Pope Pius IX and Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph
• Concordat of 1882 (23 December) with Russia
• Concordat of 1886 (23 June) with Portugal
• Concordat of 1925 (10 February) between the Holy See and the Second Polish Republic
• Lateran treaty (11 February 1929) between Italy and Pope Pius XI, being composed of a Treaty formally defining the Vatican City and its international sovereignstatus and of a Concordat concerning the Catholic Church in Italy
• Concordat of 1933 (5 June) between the Holy See and Austria
• Reichskonkordat (20 July 1933) between the Holy See and the Third Reich
• Concordat of 1940 (7 May) with the Portuguese government under Antonio de Oliveira Salazar
• Concordat of 1953 (27 August) with Francisco Franco's Spain
• Four Agreements of 1979 (3 January) between the Holy See and Spain
• Concordat of 1984 (18 February) between the Holy See and the Republic of Italy, or Villa Madama Agreement
• Concordat of 1993 (28 July) between the Holy See and Poland
• Concordat of 2004 (18 May) between the Holy See and Portugal
• several Concordats with individual Laender of the German Federal Republic since the mid-1960s

This type of formal agreement is generally no longer used by the Vatican, the last classic concordat, with Spain, having expired in 1980. A different model of relations between the Vatican and various states is still evolving in the wake of the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis Humanae.

Criticism

Some secularists http://www.concordatwatch.eu/ have criticised concordats as being opposed to religious freedom.

External sources

• What concordats are there? English translation and discussion of major concordats