Concordata entre a Santa Sé e a República Portuguesa, (Scientific Coordination Manuel Saturino Costa Gomes), Livraria Almedina, Coimbra, 2001, 325pp. Book review published in Ius Ecclesiae, 3/2001, vol. XIII, pp. 807-809

Concordata entre a Santa Sé e a República Portuguesa, (Scientific Coordination Manuel Saturino Costa Gomes), Livraria Almedina, Coimbra, 2001, 325pp. Book review published in Ius Ecclesiae, 3/2001, vol. XIII, pp. 807-809

The book in review, initiative of the Centre of Studies of Canon Law of the Portuguese Catholic University (Centro de Estudos de Direito Canónico da Universidade Católica Portuguesa), presents a full historical and juridical panorama of the Concord between the Holy See and the Republic of Portugal. In its pages we find a complete analysis of a document that guided the relationship between Portugal and the Catholic Church for 60 years. In its recent past Portugal has known two political regimes, a revolution, two constitutions and five constitutional revisions. The Concord has been able to accommodate these social and political challenges. With the proper interpretation, a secure ground for the church’s activity and liberty was laid and the problems of the separation of State and Church in 1911 (lei de separação) solved. As a result, the Portuguese Concord has been internationally recognized as a milestone for the relations between Church and State and has been praised by different personalities (v. g. Jacques Maritain, O Diário de Bello Horizonte – Brasil, 23.XII.1943). The volume is divided into four parts: the complete text of the Concord, a series of studies commenting on the Concord, an article by article commentary, and finally the executive legislation of the Concord in the Portuguese and Canon Laws. The first part reproduces the 1940’s agreed text, the additional protocol, signed in 1975, revising the 24th article which deal with marriage, the missionary agreement and the two notes on matrimonial impediments. The second part of the publication contains three articles that grant a general historical and juridical overview of the international agreement. António Leite, S.J., the author of the first two articles, provides us with an interesting reflection on the Nature and Opportunity of the Concords. This former professor of theology sets out clearly the essential concepts for the understanding of an agreement usually classified as international, made between the Catholic Church – a community or communion that pursuits spiritual goals, that is at the same time a visible society and is represented by the Pope, its supreme ruler – and a sovereign country. Concepts such as Justice and Privilege are also made unambiguous. In his second article, António Leite goes through the agreements between Portugal and the Holy See from the constitution of the Portuguese nationality in 1143 until the Portuguese Republic of 1910. The third article is in fact of a conference that took place in the Catholic University Study Work-Journey in 1991’s February. The renowned Portuguese constitutionalist Jorge Miranda debates constitutional questions such as incorporation of the Concord as international and conventional law in the Portuguese order and the position of its rules in relation to constitutional and common Portuguese rules. At the end of the article we find an interesting reflection on the value of the Concord when faced with some constitutional principles such as religious liberty and equality of treatment among different creeds.

The third part of the publication is an article-by-article commentary of the Concord. The thirty-one articles, which deal with very different topics, are analysed by sixteen different specialists and, as a result of that, are approached in distinct ways. Some commentaries are short notes on an article; while others are more detailed explanations on the ratio of the rule, placed in its context and explained under the light of the Portuguese juridical order. Overall, they endow the reader with a clearer notion of the letter and spirit of the law. Among these commentaries the article by Vasco Pereira da Costa on the Cultural Patrimony of the Church (art. 6 and 7), the two articles of Mário Bigotte Chorão on Education (art. 20 and 21) and the articles of HER Mons. Eurico Dias Nogueira on the Missionary Agreement provide a broad analysis of their particular themes in an accomplished manner. Finally, the fourth part of the book sets out the executive legislation of the Concord in the Portuguese and Canon Laws: the rules of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, (22.VIII.1940); the Instruction from the Sacred Congregation for the discipline of the Sacraments, (21.IX.1940); the Decreto-Lei 30.615 from the Portuguese Ministry of Justice, (25.VII.1940) and the Decreto-Lei 31.207 from the Portuguese Ministry of the Colonies, (5.IV.1941). This publication is remarkably valuable now that Portugal and the Catholic Church are seeking for a new Concord, which would more closely reflect the current realities of the Portuguese and Catholic societies. It also provides interesting reflections “de iure condendo” and “de iure condito” and contributes to the general discussion on the not always simple subject of the nature of the Catholic Church, which is the foundation of any agreement with nation states. Miguel Sotto-Mayor Negrão 10.XII.2001