Opening a strong attack against Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich today, the official Vatican journal, Osservatore Romano, sharply charged that the Nazis had violated their Concordat with the Vatican.
The clash was founded on several charges, principal of which was the issue of sterilization. In an address last week, Dr. Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior, warned Catholics they must stop attacking the sterilization law. According to Dr. Frick, good Catholics must obey the law of the land under the Concordat.
On the other hand, the Osservatore Romano says Dr. Frick ignores the Concordat’s guarantee to Catholics in Germany of freedom of worship in public and the right to profess their faith.
“For some time Catholics in Germany,” says the organ, “have been passing through difficult times for defense of their dogma and Catholic morals and inalienable rights.
“A dolorous situation has been created. This is unexplainable, because it not only is unreconcilable with public assurances the Chancellor of the Reich gave on taking possession of the Government to respect the Catholic Church and abide by the concordat previously signed, but also because it is in complete contrast with the concordat signed July 20, 1933, which completely revalorized the preceding accord, assuring German Catholics liberty of profession and public exercise of the Catholic religion.
“Religious attacks, to which henceforth will be given the character of official hostility” are strongly resented by the newspaper.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
