In the dispute over the University of Catholic Theology in Cologne (KHTK), the North Rhine-Westphalian state government made Cardinal Woelki sit up and take notice with unusual tones in September: The KHTK was accused of “further and continued enrollment of candidates for the priesthood because of the violation of Article 12 of the Prussian Concordat There are prospects of initiating treaty infringement proceedings before the Holy See,” said Science Minister Ina Brandes in response to a request from the opposition SPD on September 21 in the Science Committee of the Düsseldorf state parliament. In addition, the KHTK was asked to “suggest those who have been newly enrolled since the summer semester 2020 to switch to the University of Bonn to continue their studies”.
It was an unexpectedly sharp threat. Proceedings for violating the Prussian Concordat of 1929, which was confirmed in 1984 by a treaty between the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Vatican, have never been instituted. Article 12 of the Prussian Concordat regulates the training of priests in the Catholic theological faculties. The state government adopted the reading of well-known, if not all constitutional law experts, that candidates for the priesthood of the Archdiocese of Cologne have to study at the Catholic Theological Faculty of Bonn according to this article.
Recognition notice issued in Düsseldorf
The CDU-led state government had long avoided a statement. It was clear from the beginning that the establishment of the KHTK was by no means just an internal matter. After all, according to the state’s higher education law, the state government had to issue the state recognition notice for the project promoted by Cardinal Woelki – and did so. But only when the State Rectors’ Conference certified that the Cologne university offered “no added value” and warned of burdens for the taxpayer, the Bonn constitutional lawyer Josef Isensee assessed the priestly training there as a violation of the Concordat and the SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament put pressure on themselves forced the state government to break cover.
Three months have passed since then, and the winter semester began on October 10 in North Rhine-Westphalia. All statistical information that the state would need to check whether the Cologne cardinal has complied with the state government’s request would therefore be available.
But the state government now sounds much smaller. The Ministry of Science “does not know” whether the Archdiocese of Cologne made a recommendation to the students of the Cologne University of Theology to change universities, according to the FAZ from Düsseldorf. However, one is “in exchange” with the Cologne University of Theology. The ministry refers to the official university statistics for the winter semester 2022/2023. It will be published in summer 2023 at the earliest.
