Concordat policy of Bavaria from the Napoleonic Wars to the Weimar Republic

This article analyses the relationship between Bavaria and the Holy See from 1802 to 1925, tracing developments from the secularisation of Bavaria to the entry into force of the Second Bavarian Concordat. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Bavaria played a leading role in the history of concordats between the Holy See and the German states. Particular attention is given to the Concordat of 5 June 1817, concluded between Pope Pius VII and King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, and the Concordat of 29 March 1924, signed by Pius XI and the Bavarian state. The study examines the political and ecclesiastical circumstances that shaped these agreements and assesses their significance for Bavaria, Germany, and the Catholic Church. Owing to the Bavarian government’s assertion of supremacy in religious affairs, the 1817 Concordat was constrained by the Religious Edict of 1818, which subordinated the Church to the state; consequently, church–state relations until 1918 depended heavily on the position of the monarch and his ministers. The 1924 Concordat, grounded in the Weimar Constitution of 1919, proved advantageous to both parties: it affirmed Bavaria’s autonomy vis-à-vis the central government in Berlin and secured for the Catholic Church a substantial role in education and in episcopal appointments. Remaining in force to the present day, it has made a lasting contribution to the development of German church–state law and served as a model for regulating relations between the Catholic Church and German states in the twentieth century.