Concordat of 1887

The Concordat of 1887 was a treaty (December 31, 1887) between the Colombian government and the Vatican that regulated church-state relations in that country for more than five decades. It gave the Roman Catholic Church a privileged position in the religious and educational life of Colombia.

The negotiation of a concordat was authorized by the Constitution of 1886, which established a regime dominated by Conservatives eager to undo the anticlerical policies of their Liberal predecessors. Ratified by the Colombian Congress in 1888, the concordat declared Catholicism the religion of the nation. While public authorities were to protect the Catholic Church and ensure that it be respected, the church was to enjoy complete freedom and independence from the state, including the right to own property. The president of Colombia was given a major voice in the nomination of archbishops and bishops, however. The concordat also stipulated that religious instruction was to be compulsory in all educational institutions and that marriage in accordance with the Catholic rite was to be valid for civil purposes. Subsequent conventions (1892, 1902) regulated the power of the church in other areas, such as the control of cemeteries and mission fields.

After 1930 the slow but perceptible waning of Catholic influence in Colombia led to limitations on the powers of the church through constitutional reform (1936) and the signing of new concordats (1942, 1973). The Constitution of 1991 guaranteed religious freedom and forbade compulsory religious instruction in public schools. Although Catholicism lost its status as Colombia's official religion, many argue that it still maintains a privileged position.

See alsoCatholic Church: The Colonial Period; Catholic Church: The Modern Period.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Castillo Cárdenas, Gonzalo. The Colombian Concordat in the Light of Recent Trends in Catholic Thought Concerning Church-State Relations and Religious Liberty. Cuernavaca, Mexico: Centro Intercultural de Documentación, 1968.

González, Fernán E. Poderes enfrentados: Iglesia y estado en Colombia. Bogotá, Colombia: Cinep, 1997.

Mecham, J. Lloyd. Church and State in Latin America, rev. ed. (1966), esp. pp. 115-138.

                                                 Helen Delpar