SPAIN AND THE VATICAN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27131, 29 August 1953, Page 7

SPAIN AND THE VATICAN

Concordat Signed In Rome

VATICAN CITY, August 27. The pro-Secretary o f State for Pope Pius XII and the Spanish Foreign Minister (Mr Alberto Martin Artajo) today signed a concordat between the "Vatican and Spain. It replaced the concordat of 1851 Which was ended by the Spanish RePublic in 1931. The Vatican newspaper, “Osservatore Romano,” explained that the new ‘solemn convention” was the “crowning and completion” of a number of agreements concluded between the "Vatican and the Spanish Government •Since General Francisco Franco gained power.

The paper said that contrary to normal practice the concordat had not ’been drawn up to end a state of disagreement or a period of tension, but to stabilise the present situation. It said that Spain “reaffirms those •onstant principles which form the Jasis of the prosperity of the family and of the nation, full recognition of Religious marriage, Christian education of youth, and freedom for the church to carry out her apostolate.” It added that the prologue affirmed ghe desire of the Holy See and Spain jto “assure that fruitful collaboration "between the ecclesiastical and civil Tower which, always and everywhere, *ts a condition of the greater good, and ®f the peaceful development and increase of the religious and civil life ©f nations.” Great satisfaction was felt in official circles in Madrid at the signing of the concordat. Spain and the Holy See have been negotiating this concordat almost continuously since tie end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. It is thought in Madrid that the Vatican’s desire to see the Franco regime solidly established and internationally accepted beforehand may have delayed the conclusion of an agreement.