On 5 July 1933, the Holy See and Austria sign the Concordat of 1933 — the agreement regulating church–state relations, with emphasis on Catholic schools and religious education.

Negotiated by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pius XII) and Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, with Kurt Schuschnigg, the concordat recognises the 1917 Code of Canon Law and increased Church influence in the Ständestaat.

Entry into force: 1 May 1934. After the Anschluss (1938) it was suspended; the Austrian government officially recognised its validity only in 1957.

Like the Reichskonkordat, the Austrian text includes a secret supplement on sensitive ecclesiastical-policy matters.

For interwar Vatican diplomacy, 5 July 1933 marks the fixing of the Catholic status in Dollfuss’s Austria.

The text is documented in concordat collections and Holy See archives.

The Concordat of 5 July 1933 remains the milestone of Holy See–Austria relations in the 1930s.

Image: Vienna / Vatican; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Concordat of 1933. Treaty text: Concordat between the Holy See and Austria (5 July 1933).