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On July 20,
1933, the Vatican Chancellery in Rome held a ceremony in which the
Holy See concluded a Concordat with Nazi Germany. Representing the
Germans was Franz von Papen, the deputy chancellor; the Vatican was
represented by Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli-the initiator and architect
of the Concordat, the secretary of state, and subsequently Pope Pius
XII (1939-1958). The occasion gave Hitler an important diplomatic
victory, while preserving a modicum of space for Catholic
independence of action in Germany. |
