30 Facts About Ludwig Kaas

Ludwig Kaas was instrumental in brokering the Reichskonkordat between the Holy See and the German Reich.

Distressed by the revolution, Ludwig Kaas decided to engage in politics and joined the Centre Party.

Ludwig Kaas was elected to the Prussian State Council, the representation of Prussia's provinces.

Ludwig Kaas considered himself a "Rhenish Patriot" and advocated the creation of a Rhineland state within the framework of the German Reich.

Ludwig Kaas supported foreign minister Stresemann's policy of reconciliation and denounced nationalist agitation against this policy - agitation he considered to be irresponsible.

An angry Ludwig Kaas announced he would give up all his other commitments and concentrate on his academic work, but eventually he was reconciled to Bornewasser.

On 1 April 1924, Ludwig Kaas was appointed to the Cathedral chapter.

Bishop Bornewasser had allowed Ludwig Kaas to keep his parliamentary seat until September 1924, but expected him to resign it afterwards and concentrate on his administrative and academic work within the diocese.

Ludwig Kaas was a fast learner, a hard and reliable worker with good judgement.

In 1925, as Pacelli was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Prussia and moved his office to Berlin, the cooperation between Pacelli and Ludwig Kaas became even closer.

Pacelli asked Ludwig Kaas, who had accompanied him on his travel, to stay in Rome but Ludwig Kaas declined because of his ecclesiastical and political duties in Germany.

In 1929, Ludwig Kaas published a volume of Nuncio Pacelli's speeches.

From 1930 onwards, Ludwig Kaas loyally supported the administration under the Centre's Heinrich Bruning, who served as the leader of the party's Reichstag faction due to Ludwig Kaas' frequent travel to the Vatican.

In 1932 Ludwig Kaas and Bruning led the Centre Party into opposition to the new Chancellor: party renegade Franz von Papen.

Ludwig Kaas tried to re-establish a working parliament by cooperation with the National Socialists.

Ludwig Kaas felt betrayed when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor on 30 January 1933 based on a coalition between National Socialist German Workers Party, German National People's Party and independent conservatives, which excluded the Centre Party.

Ludwig Kaas gave a speech, voicing the Centre's support for the bill amid "concerns put aside", while Bruning notably remained silent.

Ludwig Kaas had planned to travel to Rome since the beginning of the year, to discuss a conflict in Eupen and Malmedy, formerly German towns now belonging to Belgium, where priests had been arrested.

Pacelli subsequently authorized Ludwig Kaas, who was known for his expertise in Church-state relations, to negotiate the draft of the terms with Papen.

The Centre Party's vote for the Enabling Act, at Ludwig Kaas's urging, was an action which fostered the establishment of the Hitlerian tyranny.

Ludwig Kaas, who had played a pivotal role in the concordat negotiations, hoped to head an information office, watching over the implementation in Germany.

However, Cardinal Bertram considered Ludwig Kaas to be the wrong man, given his political past.

Also, Ludwig Kaas's conduct was controversial among his fellow party members, who saw his sudden and lasting move to Rome as an act of defection and his involvement in the concordat negotiations as treason to the party.

Accordingly, Ludwig Kaas was appointed papal protonotary on 20 March 1934 and canon of the Basilica of Saint Peter on 6 April 1935.

The exiled Ludwig Kaas suffered from homesickness and from the rejection by his fellow party members and the German episcopate.

On 20 August 1936, Ludwig Kaas was appointed Economicus and Secretary of the Holy Congregation of the fabric of St Peter's Basilica.

Late in that year, after the outbreak of World War II, Ludwig Kaas was one of the key figures for the secret Vatican Exchanges, in which Widerstand circles within the German army tried to negotiate with the Allies through the mediation of the Pope Pius XII.

Not all questions were solved, and Ludwig Kaas continued excavations after 1950, despite an emerging illness.

Ludwig Kaas was first buried in the cemetery of Campo Santo in the Vatican.

Ludwig Kaas is thus the only monsignor who rests in the vicinity of virtually all popes of the twentieth century.