The Ratification of the 1932 Accord Relating to the Interpretation of Section 9 of the Concordat Concluded between the Holy See and the Romanian Government on 10 May 1927

Abstract

Following the Treaty of Trianon, the situation of the Catholic Church operating on the territory of the Kingdom of Romania was regularized within a concordat agreement concluded in 1927 between the Romanian Government and the Holy See as interested parties. Since due to the compromises Section 9 of the Concordat, addressing the legal situation of the church, became meaningful ─ a development that parties opposing the Concordat exploited –, the contracting parties agreed on a detailed explanation under an accord drafted in the early 1930s. Our study presents the thriller-like antecedents and aftermath of the Accord, signed on 30 May 1932 between the contracting parties, relating to the interpretation of Section 9 of the Concordat concluded between the Holy See and the Romanian Government on 10 May 1927. The successive, short-lived Romanian governments could not give effect to the agreement due to the nationalist propaganda heavily present in the media. Abuses arising from the various interpretations eventually led to the appearance of the Accord in the form a decree-law on 2 May 1940. Keywords: concordat, accord, Holy See, Romanian Government, Roman Catholic Status of Transylvania