Das portugiesische Konkordat von 2004

Abstract

Summary: Portugal has been deeply influenced by Catholicism for many centuries. Yet, particularly in the past two centuries, the state-church relationship has been punctuated by tensions and even, at times, by hostility. The 1940 Concordat between the Portuguese state and the Catholic Church was signed under a corporatist dictatorship but the current Concordat entered into force in 2004, within a maturing constitutional democracy.

The religion-friendly Portuguese constitutional framework is structured around the interaction of the Constitution, the Concordat, and the Religious Freedom Act.  Grounded in a model of separation that neither grants privileges to any religious community nor adheres to strict secularism, the state acknowledges the role of religious communities in promoting the common good. Within such a framework, the relationship between religious communities and the state is largely governed by a principle of cooperation which, though not explicitly enshrined in the Constitution, is posited in the Religious Freedom Act of 2001.

The conclusions of the analysis of the Portuguese Concordat of 2004 presented here demonstrate overall that it provides a significant contribution to rendering the enduring relevance of this particular form of regulation of the relationship between church and state.