Mit brennender Sorge
The encyclical of Pius XI on the church and the German Reich, addressed to the bishops of Germany and dated Passion Sunday, 14 March 1937. It protests against breaches of the concordat of 1933 and against the deifying of race, people and state.
The letter is addressed to the archbishops and bishops of Germany. It first recalls the concordat of 1933 and charges the other party with emptying it of meaning. The greater part is doctrinal: it sets out what the church teaches about God, Christ, the church, the primacy of the pope, morality and natural law, and at each point names the errors it sees being spread in Germany. It ends with words to the young, to priests and religious, to the laity and to parents.
It is the pope’s own statement, made public while the conflict it describes was going on. The text does not use the name of Hitler or of his party. It is cited in Mit brennender Sorge: Pius XI on the Church in the German Reich.
Cited in
- 14 March 1937, firm date