Folia Theologica 9. (1998)

Józef Krukowski: The Issues of the Negotiations of Concordats

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J. KRUKOWSKI

— recognition on the state forum of the consequences of verdicts taken by Church tribunals about nullity of marriage17.

— securing the respect to durability of marriage and to co-operation for the respect of the value of family as the basic cell of social life18.

6) Guarantees of respecting the parents’ right to religious and moral education of their children according to their convictions and the right to religion teaching in state schools. It should be mentioned that concordats with Germany and the states of Latin America secure the teaching of religion in public schools as an obligatory subject, while concordats with Spain, Italy and Poland as an optional subject. These concordats also guarantee the right of the Church to run and organise Catholic schools of all levels19. A number of states guarantee financial allocations to the Catholic schools in the same way as to the private or public schools if they fulfil the conditions determined in the national law. These guarantees do not mean any special privileges for the Catholics but they serve the respect to equality of citizens as taxpayers.

3.3.2. An Analysis of the National Law

The most delicate matters that must be settles by way of negotiations concern the agreement on the text of a new concordat. To achieve this aim, a critical analysis has to be made of the present legal regulations referring to the guarantees of expressing one’s religious convictions both in private and public life. The following must be settled in this respect:

1) which regulations from the binding national legislation should be confirmed in the concordat, which means which of them should be raised to the rank of an international convention;

2) which freedom guarantees are not found in national legislation and henceforth should be entered into the concordat;

3) what limitations of religious freedom, which are a relic of the totalitarian communist regime, should be abrogated.

This is a task for the experts.

17 Cf. Article 8 of the concordat with Columbia; Article 6 of the agreement with Spain concerning legal questions; Article 8 with Italy.

18 Cf. protocol with Portugal from 1975; Article 6 of the agreement with Spain from 1979; Article 8, statute 3 of the agreement with Italy; Article 11 of the concordat with Poland.

19 Cf. concordats with Austria, Malta, with the federal countries of the Federal Republic of Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Poland, Israel, Dominican Republic, Columbia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador.