The issue of the concordat prolonged Kaas's stay in Rome, leaving the Centre Party without a chairman, and on 5 May Kaas finally resigned from his post. The party then elected Heinrich Brüning as its chairman. At that time, the Centre party was subject to increasing pressure in the wake of the process of Gleichschaltung and after all the other parties had dissolved (or were banned, like the SPD). The Centre Party dissolved itself on 5 July 1933, as the concordat between the Vatican and the Nazis had dealt it a decisive blow by exchanging a ban on the political activities of priests for the continuation of Catholic education. Cardinal Pacelli and von Papen initialled the concordat in Rome three days later, with signing taking place on 20 July.Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives, Alan Bullock, p. 355, Harper Collins, 1991, ; Lapide, p. 101 On 2 July the Vatican daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano insisted that the concordat wasn't an endorsement of Nazi teachings.Carroll, p. 505.
