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Roman Catholicism in Germany
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceThe Roman Catholic Church in Germany is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome. The church in Germany is divided into 27 dioceses and archdioceses. All the archbishops and bishops form the Conference of the German Bishops.
Secularisation has made its impact in Germany as elsewhere in Europe; nowadays less than one third of the total population is Catholic (31.2% or 25.684.890 people as of December 2006) compared to 45% in 1970. Furthermore, a mere 14.0% of German Catholics (or about 4 % of the total German population) attended mass on Sundays in 2006.
Catholic dioceses of Germany
There are 7 archdioceses and 20 dioceses.
History of Catholicism in Germany
Christianization of the Germans
The early process of Christianization of the various Celtic people and Germanic people occurred only in the western part of Germany, the part controlled by the Roman empire. This Christianization was achieved by various means, and was facilitated by the prestige of the Christian Roman Empire amongst its pagan subjects. The gradual rise of Germanic Christianity was, at times, voluntary, particularly among groups associated with the Roman Empire. After Christianity became a largely unified and dominant force in Germania, remaining pockets of the indigenous Germanic paganism were converted by force. Despite the conversion process, many aspects of the native religion exist to this day, including the names of the days of the week in most Germanic languages.With the end of Roman rule in Germany in 5th century, this phase of Catholicism in Germany ended, too. For some time the Gallo-Roman or Germano-Roman population could maintain control over big cities such as Cologne and Trier, but in the second half of the century, these were lost too. Large parts of the native population were killed or exiled. Only a few Gallo-Romans or Germano-Romans stayed on.
The new population reestablished the observance of the pagan rites.. The small remaining Catholic population was powerless to protect its faith against the new ruling Franconian lords.
In 497 King Chlodwig was baptized together with many members of his household. In contrast to the eastern German tribes, who became Arian Christians, he became a Catholic. Following the excample of their king, many Franks were baptized too, but their Catholicism was mixed with pagan rites.
Irish and Scottish missionaries reintroduced Catholic Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 6th and 7th centuries.
The Irish and Scottish missionaries founded monasteries (Schottenklöster Scottish monasteries) in Germany, particularly the Scottish Benedictines, which later were combined into one congregation whose abbot-general was the Abbot of the Scots monastery at Regensburg.
The most important of these missionaries were Columbanus, who was active from 590 in the Frankish Empire, and St Boniface, an Anglo-Saxon, who was active from 716. The conversion of the Germanic peoples began with the conversion of the Germanic nobility, who were expected to impose their new faith on the general population. This is connected with the sacral position of the king in Germanic paganism: the king is charged with interacting with the divine on behalf of his people. Hence the general population saw nothing wrong with their kings choosing their preferred mode of worship. The favoured method of showing the supremacy of the Christian belief was the destruction of the holy trees of the Germans. These were trees, usually old oaks or elm trees, dedicated to the gods. Because the missionary was able to fell the tree without being slain by the god, his Christian god had to be stronger.
The pagan sacrifices, known as blót, were seasonal celebrations where gifts were offered to appropriate gods, and attempts were made to predict the coming season. Similar events were sometimes convened in times of crisis, for much the same reasons. The sacrifices, consisting of gold, weapons, animals, and even human beings, were hung on the branches of a holy tree.
The Hiberno-Scottish mission ended in 13th century. Supported by native Christians, they succeeded in Christianizing all of Germany.
Catholicism as the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire
In medieval times, Catholicism was the only official religion within the Holy Roman Empire. (There were Jews, but they were not considered citizens of the empire.) The Catholic church was a major power within the empire. Large parts of the territory were ruled by ecclesiastical lords. Three of the seven seats in the council of electors were occupied by Catholic archbishops: the (Arch-chancellor of Burgundyarchbishop of Trier, the Arch-chancellor of Italy archbishop of Cologne, and the Arch-chancellor of Germany archbishop of Mainz).The Reformation
Burghers and monarchs were united in their frustration at the Catholic church not paying any taxes to secular states while itself collecting taxes from subjects and sending the revenues disproportionately to Italy. Martin Luther denounced the Pope for involvement in politics. Luther's Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms justified the confiscation of church property and the crushing the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525 by the German nobles. This explains the attraction of some territorial princes to Lutheranism. Along with the confiscation of Catholic church property, ecclesiastical (Catholic) dominions became the personal property of the formerly Catholic incumbent of the Catholic religious office, to which the right to rule was connected in advance.On September 25, 1555 at the city of Augsburg in Bavaria,Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League signed the Peace of Augsburg. This officially ended the religious struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants and made the legal division of Christendom permanent within the Holy Roman Empire. The document allowed for German princes to select either Lutheranism or Catholicism within the domains they controlled. According to this policy of cuius regio, eius religio ("whose reign, that religion", or "in the Prince's land, the Prince's religion"), the religion of the ruler determined the religion of his subjects. Families were given a period in which they were free to emigrate to regions where their desired religion prevailed.
The religious intolerance and tensions within the empire were one of the reasons of the Thirty Years' War, which would devastate most of Gemany and kill twelve million people, two thirds of the population of the empire.
Secularization
When the French revolutionary troops entered the territory of the Holy Roman Empire in 1793 large parts of Germany were still ruled by Catholic bishops (95.000 km² with more than three million people).As a result of the defeat of the German states, the areas on the western side of river Rhine became French. The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss established a major redistribution of territorial sovereignty within the Empire, to compensate numerous German princes for territories to the west of the Rhine that had been annexed by France as a result of the wars of the French Revolution. The ecclesiastical states were generally annexed to neighbouring secular principalities. Only three survived as nonsecular states: the Archbishopric of Regensburg, which was raised from a bishopric with the incorporation of the Archbishopric of Mainz, and the lands of the Teutonic Knights and Knights of Saint John.
Monasteries and abbeys lost their means of existence as they had to abandon their land.
The Kulturkampf
In the mid-19th century, the Catholic Church was also a political power, which had a strong influence on many parts of life, though, even in Protestant Prussia. Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck tried to subordinate the Catholic Church in Germany to the state as he had the Prussian Protestant state church, which was connected to the state in many ways and absolutely loyal to the king and emperor.Kulturkampf (literally, "culture struggle") is the name for the attempt by the German state to diminish the influence of the Catholic Church on subjects of the German Empire. It manifested as a series of laws enacted from 1871 to 1887 under the influence of the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck.
The kulturkampf started with the kanzelparagraf ("pulpit statute", paragraf being jargon in German for "section of a legal code") of 1871. This was the addition of §130a to the German criminal code (strafgesetzbuch), which threatened clergy who discussed politics from the pulpit with two years of prison.
In March 1872 religious schools were forced to undergo official government inspection and in June religious teachers were banned from government schools. Under the May Laws, administered by Adalbert Falk, the education of clergy was monitored by the state, a secular court for cases involving the clergy created, and notification of all clergy employment required. In 1872, the Jesuits were banned and diplomatic relations with the Vatican broken off. In 1875 the civil marriage ceremony became a mandatory. Now a religious marriage required a previous civil marriage.
On July 13 1874 in the town of Bad Kissingen Eduard Kullmann attempted to assassinate Bismarck with a pistol, but the bullet only hit Bismarck in the hand. Kullmann named the church laws as the reason for the attack.
The kulturkampf was not limited to the official Catholic Church. There was a growing pressure on the everyday life of Catholic parishioners. Catholics were suspected to be ultramontanists, influenced by the political interests of the Holy See, a foreign power. Catholics were discriminated by the state, especially in the areas of education and civil service.
Even the exercise of faith was influenced or even restricted. When in Trier the alleged seamless robe of Jesus was displayed, pilgrims were assaulted.
Bismarck's attempts to restrict the power of the Catholic Church, represented in politics by the Catholic Centre Party, were not successful. In the 1874 elections, these forces doubled their representation in the parliament. The Catholic Church was strengthened too. Many Catholic organizations were formed on all areas of life.
Needing to counter the Social Democratic Party, Bismarck softened his stance, especially with the election of the new Pope Leo XIII in 1878, and tried to justify his actions to the now numerous Catholic representatives by stating that the presence of Poles (who are predominantly Catholic) within German borders required that such measures be taken. In 1887 the official kulturkampf was ended.
Catholicism and the Third Reich
Before Adolf Hitler rose to power, the Catholic church was in opposition to Nazism, because this ideology was not compatible with Christian morals. Therefore, under threat of excommunication Catholics were forbidden to join the NSDAP or its oganizations until the Reichskonkordat between the German government and the Holy See (1933). However, many Catholics, like other large sections of German society, thought Hitler to be a chance to stop the evil of communism. The Nazi party seemed to be an ally at first. The leaders of the NSDAP shared the church's view about the incompatibility of national solcialism and Christianity..In 1937, in the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, Pope Pius XI condemned Nazi ideology, notably the Gleichschaltung policy directed against religious influence upon education, as well as Nazi racism and antisemitism. The encyclical Humani Generis Unitas however was never published. Massive Catholic opposition to the euthanasia programs made the party interrupt it in 1941 (only to be restarted after the start of the war). As for Nazi anti-Semitism, only sporadically did German Catholics mount opposition to it in an active and open manner. There were exceptions, like bishop Clemens von Galen of Münster. Many German priests and simple parishioners, defending their beliefs, were sent to the concentration camps (for example at least 305 Catholic priests had arrived at the camp of Dachau as of May 1942) for their opposition, but the large majority (like in other countries) did not openly oppose the Nazis.
Other Catholics, including Catholic bishops, were obedient supporters of "the Führer"; this despite the fact the original reichskonkordat (see below) proscribed any active political participation by the priesthood.
The Nazis saw themselves as a replacement of Catholicism that would co-opt its unity and respect for hierarchy.
In 1941 the Nazi authorities began to dissolve all monasteries and abbeys, through occupation and secularization by the Allgemeine SS. In 1941 this Aktion Klostersturm (Operation Monastery Sacking) was stopped because Hitler feared the increasing protests by the Catholic part of the German population. If these were to result in passive rebellions, the Nazi war effort at the eastern front would be harmed.
The Reichskonkordat
The reichskonkordat was ratified on September 10 1933.The main points of the concordat were:
- The right to freedom of the Roman Catholic religion. (Article 1)
- The state concordats with Bavaria (1924), Prussia (1929), and Baden (1932) were to remain valid. (Article 2)
- Unhindered correspondence between the Holy See and German Catholics. (Article 4)
- The right of the church to collect church taxes. (Article 13)
- The oath of allegiance of the bishops: "(...) Ich schwöre und verspreche, die verfassungsmässig gebildete Regierung zu achten und von meinem Klerus achten zu lassen (...)" ("I swear and vow to heed the constitutionally formed government and to have my clergy heed it") (Article 16)
- State services to the church can be abolished only by mutual agreement. (Article 18)
- Catholic religion is taught in school (article 21) and teachers for Catholic religion can be employed only with the approval of the bishop (article 22).
- Protection of Catholic organizations and freedom of religious practice. (Article 31)
- Clerics may not be members of or advocate for political parties. (Article 32)
With this concordat the Nazi government succeeded in two fields. The Nazi government obtained international prestige and the interior Catholic opposition was brought to silence, because the Catholics could not fight a government which was acknowledged by the Holy See.
While the Vatican and the German Catholics respected the concordat, for Hitler any form of treaty was merely a piece of paper which he complied with only as long as it was to his advantage to do so. Therefore, the Nazi government violated the concordat at will. The Holy See protested and condemned Nazi policies and ideology with the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge.
Catholicism in the German Democratic Republic
After World War II the Catholics in the zone occupied by the Soviet army found themselves within an atheist system. Many parishes were separated from their dioceses in the western part of Germany.The constitution of the German Democratic Republic declared the freedom of belief but in reality the socialist state tried to abolish religion.
Most of the people on the territory of the German Democratic Republic were members of a Protestant church. With exception of the Eichsfeld, a small catholic area in the northwestern part of Thuringia, which was a former property of the archdiocese of Mainz, Catholics were a small minority right from the start of Communist rule. In contrast to the Protestant churches, the Catholic Church was relatively unscathed by the Communist order. In 1950, 13% of the population were Catholics (85% Protestants). Although about 1.1 million Catholics, half of the Catholic population, left the GDR, in 1989 there were still about one million Catholics, about 6% of the population (versus 25% Protestants).
A main advantage was the position as a minority church. There was a high number of Protestants, who could raise the strength to endanger the atheistic state. Therefore the system's main efforts to fight religion concentrated on Protestantism.
Another reason was different history. The Protestant churches had strong connections to most of the former states on the territory of the GDR while the Catholic Church kept a distance to these states (and these states kept a distance to the Catholic Church as seen during the kulturkampf). The Catholic Church was used to exist without the help and even against the hostility of the state.
Today the Eichsfeld, for example, is one of the regions of Germany showing the highest numbers of worshippers on Sunday.
The present situation of Catholicism in Germany
Nowadays, the two Bundesländer where catholics are forming the majority of the German population are Bavaria (south) (with as per 31 Dez. 2006 57,2 % of the Bavarian population being Catholics), and Saarland (west)(with 64,9% catholics again as of 31 Dez. 2006). Besides these Bundesländer there are smaller areas/ pockets in which catholics from the majority of the population. There still are many connections between the Catholic church and the German state. The state collects taxes for the church and there is religious education in the schools, taught by teachers who have to be approved by the church.Catholicism in Germany today faces several problems.
- Traditionally, there were areas with Catholic majorities and areas of Protestant majorities. The mobility of modern society began to mix the population. Interconfessional married couples face the problem not to be able to share the same communion.
- Beginning with the German student movement in the late sixties the German society lost many of its traditional values. Large parts of the Protestant churches became part of this movement. The Catholic Church did not abandon its values. Therefore the church and its values became the target of offensives of socialist and liberal political groups.
- The modern society is changing old structures. Catholic environments break up. The number of Catholic churchgoes has decreased (from 22 percent in 1990 to 14 percent in 2006) and many leave the church.
Pope Benedict XVI
The current Pope Benedict XVI, former Josef, Cardinal Ratzinger is from Bavaria. This has led to somewhat of a revival in interest, at least by the news media. Further, the celebration of World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne received a great deal of attention. There has recently been an increase of interest--especially among young people--in the Catholic faith. It is yet to be seen, whether this is only a short episode or the beginning of a long term development.References
See also
External links
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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 11:05:14 PDT (GMT -0700)
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