The Second Adriatic Concordat

Extract

The recent attempt to settle the relations between the Catholic Church and the Kingdom of Jugoslavia has been attended by tumult in the streets of Belgrade and in the minds of some religious publicists in this country who have seen in it an example of Roman Catholic aggression. Yet consider how subtle must be the diplomacy of the Vatican, when its schemes are initiated and promoted by the State, while the Catholic populations of Croatia and Slovenia look passively on, contenting themselves in their newspapers with chronicling the facts, almost without comment.

The following piece of documentation, representing the somewhat detached point of view of a Catholic Croat towards the whole business, may help to set things in proportion.

The first steps towards the Concordat were taken by the Government more than ten years ago, when a delegation, headed by M. Yanitch, was sent to Rome. The negotiations, however, hung fire owing to some bother over undiplomatic interference with the affairs of the Slavonic College of St. Jerome. Eventually, on July 25th, 1935, an agreement was initialled in Rome by Cardinal Pacelli, for Pope Pius XI, and Dr. Auer, the Minister for Jugoslavia.