Vatican and Eastern Europe (1846–1958)

The Vatican and Eastern Europe (1846-1958) describes the relations from the pontificate of Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) through the pontificate of Pope Pius XII (1939-1958). It includes the relations of the Church State (1846-1870) and the Vatican (1870-1958)with Russia (1846-1918), Lithuania (1922-1958) and Poland (1918-1958). As of July 5, 2008, the article is not complete.

Pope Pius protest or silence

The Pontificate of Pius IX began in 1846. In 1847 an "Accomodamento”", a generous agreement, by which Russia allowed the Pope to fill vacant Episcopal Sees of the Latin rites both in Russia and the Polish and Lithuanian provinces of Russia. The new freedoms were short-live, as they were undermined by jealousies of the rival Orthodox Church, Polish political aspirations, and the tendency of imperial Russia, to act most brutally against any dissension. Pope Pius IX first tried to position himself in the middle, strongly opposing revolutionary and violent opposition against the Russian authorities, and, appealing to them for more Church freedom. After the failure of the Polish uprising in 1863, Pope Pius IX sided with the persecuted Poles, loudly protesting their persecutions, infuriating the Tsarist government to the point that all Catholic seats were closed by 1870, a catastrophe, which continued to haunt Vatican diplomacy for decades to come. [All sources if not otherwise quoted, are Schmidlin, II, pp 213-224]

Diplomacy of Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII began his pontificate with a friendly letter to Tsar Alexander II, in which he reminded the Russian monarch of the millions of Catholics living in his empire, who would like to be good Russian subjects, provided their dignity is respected. He appealed to the generosity of the Tsar, since Vatican-Russian relations were at a low point. The Tsar replied in an equally friendly manner and promised actions towards equal treatment of all Catholics in the empire. As during the pontificate of Pope Pius IX, this turned out to be relative, since most problems were at the local level. As negotiations started, Russian demands for the use of Russian language in Catholic Churches including the Polish and Lithuanian provinces, was unacceptable to the Vatican. Pope Leo XIII threatened to appeal directly to all Catholics in Russia. Some progress was made in the occupation of vacant Episcopal sees, but an emotional breakthrough was the Papal encyclical from December 28, 1878, against nihilism and socialism and radicalism, which, was dear to the Russian monarch, who was under constant pressure from nihilist and socialist forces. Repeated assassination attempts against Alexander II gave the Pope opportunity to repeat his warnings, which were read in all Catholic Churches.

After the assassination of Alexander II, his successor, the Pope sent a high ranking representative to the coronation of his successor. Alexander III was grateful and asked for all religious forces to unify. He asked the Pope to ensure that his bishops abstain from political agitation. Relations improved further, when Pope Leo XIII, due to Italian considerations, distanced the Vatican from the Rome- Vienna, Berlin alliance and helped to facilitate an rapprochement between Paris and St. Petersburg. Meanwhile the Ruthenians continued to be persecuted and Rome was not able to assist much. Russia began to protest against Church uses by Polish groups for anti-Russian activities, and the Pope found himself in the same dilemma as his predecessor Pius IX. He was personally attacked for sacrificing Polish interest in the language dispute. Russia in turn accused its Catholics of being disloyal citizens, without attacking the Pope himself.

After the elevation of Tsar Nicolas II in 1894, Pope Leo XIII was able to reach additional agreements in 1896, which resulted in better conditions for the faithful, numerous specific dispensations and permits, and additional appointments of bishops. However, he was not able to reopen the nunciature in St. Petersburg. His pontificate ended with atmospheric improvements between the Vatican and Russia. [All references unless otherwise indicated: Schmidlin, II, 506-514]

Prussian persecutions

In Prussia, Polish Catholics were persecuted as Poles and, during the Kulturkampf, together with German Catholics, as Catholics as well: The Kulturkampf, which Otto von Bismarck began in 1871, insinuated a Polish-Catholic-Austrian connection. [Micewski 3 ] It was a vehicle for germanisation, as everything Polish including the language were banned from schools and offices. [Micewski 3 ] Polish priests, who taught Catholic religion in Polish were punished and jailed. Like their German counterparts, their sermons were observed and led to jail sentences as well. [Kanzelparagraph, Maigesetze ] In 1874, Cardinal Mieczyslaw Ledochowski was jailed.

By 1914, Germany needed Polish volunteers for the war. Polish politicians had modest requests for their support: full recognition of Polish language, religious education in Polish language, the return of expropriated properties and the elimination of laws, which discriminated against the Polish population. [Erzberger, 173] . This was not granted. [Unlike in Russia, they had powerful allies among German Catholic hierarchy and Catholic politicians like Matthias Erzberger, the most prominent Catholic politician during World War One, who often functioned as go-between with the Vatican. (Erzberger 41 ff) Indeed after Vatican communications, Erzberger promoted a Polish kingdom to be proclaimed in Krakow with loose ties to Austria-Hungary, for which he had support in the Vatican and even Germany(Erzberger, 173) but not from the Hungarian Prime Minister Tisza in Vienna, who was afraid of losing ethnic influence. According to Erzberger, Germany proposed on one hand a large Poland to be associated with Austria-Hungary and Germany in an central-European economic union. On the other hand, German fiscal policies continued discriminating against Polish interests. Largely due to the British blockage against Germany, Polish populations suffered from hunger during German occupation, with the result, that Prussian popularity reached all time lows during WWI (Erzberger 170-173). ]

Polish veto at Papal conclave

During the conclave of 1903, according to its Secretary Rafael Merry del Val, Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko of Krakow came to see him, demanding to announce his veto against Cardinal Rampolla in the name of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria of Austria-Hungary. Merry Del Val protested and refused to even accept the document, which, in the heat of the debate fell on the floor and was picked up by Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko. [Von Pastor, 696] The College of Cardinals, was outraged. Rampolla, according to Merry del Val, actually gained votes after the veto. Later, he opined to Ludwig von Pastor that Rampolla never had a chance, because the cardinals wanted a new direction after the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII. [Von Pastor, 696] After his election, the new Pope Pius X decreed automatic excommunication on anyone who should try to influence a conclave with a threat or veto. [Von Pastor, 697]

Pius X broken Russian promises

Under Pope Pius X (1903-1914), the situation of Polish Catholics in Russia did not improve. Although Tsar Nicolas issued a degree February 22, 1903, promising religious freedom for the Catholic Church, and, in 1905, promulgated a constitution, which included religious freedom, [Schmidlin III, 125] the Russian Orthodox Church felt threatened and insisted on stiff interpretations. Papal degrees were not permitted and contacts with the Vatican remained outlawed. A religious movement the "Mariavites", supported and financed by Russia, began to gain ground among the Polish faithful, although the Pope had condemned it in 1907. [Schmidlin II, 126] In his encyclical Tribus Circiter‎ Pope Pius wrote to the episcopate, warning against national radicals and asks for peace and order. [Acta Pii II, 1905.] In 1907 he signed an agreement, which prescribes mandatory Russian history and literature courses in Catholic seminaries in Polish Russia, in exchange for greater rights for the faithful. [Schmidlin II, 126]

Afterwards, he felt betrayed by the Russians who did not ease the conditions of Polish faithful: At his last public reception of the Diplomatic Corps, Pope Pius X publicly told the Russian ambassador Nelidoff,
* We will not accept greetings or congratulations from Russia, which did not keep a single promise to us and or to the Catholics in Russia.

As a surprised Nelodoff disagreed, the Pope rose from his throne and asked the ambassador to leave he room. [Schmidlin III 127]

Pope Benedict XV

Russia and the Soviet Union

With the Russian Revolution, the Vatican was faced with a new, so far unknown situation, an ideology and government which rejected not only the Catholic Church but religion as a whole. “The Pope, the Tsar, Metternich, French radicals and German police, are united against communism said Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels [Communist Manifesto , 1848] "The Historical Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences" wrote, that “reactionary policies of the Vatican” were an outgrow of fear of socialism and hate of communism. This fear turned the Vatican into an ally of capitalism. The Catholic Church is seen to have been an a 1000 year alliance with feudalism, just defeated in Russia. [The Historical Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences 1953, 461] In the words of Friedrich Engels, “the Church blessed the feudal order with the gloriole of divine blessings. Her hierarchy was ordered according to feudal principles. She is one of he greatest feudal exploiters." [Engels, die Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft, ausgewählte Schriften Berlin, 1953, 93]

The Communists took time, to get into Church issues, which were not of priority.Lenin “did not want to put the religious question at the forefront, because it does not belong there at all." [Clarkson 571] They did not repeal the Tsarist degrees guaranteeing religious freedom. They even permitted the restoration of the Orthodox Patriarchate, which has been dormant for over 150 years. [Clarkson, 493] But with time, a persecution of the Churches including the Catholic Church began and intensified. All religion, "the opiate of the masses" [Karl Marx] was considered hostile to communism, but most of the revolutionary violence was oriented against the Russian Orthodox Church The new regime began to interfere in spheres, so far reserved for the Church, by legalizing divorces, issuing and civil marriage. Bloody repression of civilians, carried out under the auspices of the Polish Comrade Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, [He wrote to his wife, My thinking compels me to be merciless and I have the firm will to follow my thinking to the utmost. Clarkson 492] head of the Cheka, led to public protest. The Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow issued a solemn anathema against the Communist “for their frightful and bestial murder of people entirely innocent , even people lying sick in bed , in ruthless cruelty, in full daylight without any trial and in defiance of all justice and legality”. [Clarkson 493] The Soviets responded by taking away most Church properties and by nationalizing all Church schools. The Patriarch was arrested, most monasteries were suppressed, and “counter-revolutionary” Religious were executed. [Clarkson, 493, 572] During the winter 1918-1919, some "twenty bishops were murdered together with thousands of priests and religious". [Schmidlin III 308] [Fr. von Lama, Papst und Kurie in ihrer Politik nach dem Weltkrieg, Illertissen, 1925, p.362 ] Some hope developed among the United Orthodox in the Ukraine and Armenia, but many of the representatives there disappeared or were jailed in the following years. Several Orthodox bishops from Omsk and Simbirsk wrote an open letter to Pope Benedict XV, "as the Father of all Christianity," describing the murder of priests, the destruction of their churches and other persecutions in their areas. [Schmidlin III, 308]

Lithuania and Estonia

The relations with Russia changed drastically for a second reason. The Baltic states and Poland gained their independence from Russia after World War One, thus enabling a relatively free Church life in those former Russian countries. Estonia was the first country to look for Vatican ties. April 11, 1919, Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri informed the Estonian authorities, that the Vatican would agree to have diplomatic relations. A concordat was agreed upon in principle a year later, June 1920. It was signed May 30, 1922. It guarantees freedom for the Catholic Church, establishes a archdioceses, liberates clergy from military service, allows the creation of seminaries and catholic schools, describes church property rights and immunity. The Archbishop swears alliance to Estonia. [Schmidlin III, 305]

Relations with Catholic Lithuania were slightly more complicated because of the Polish occupation of Vilnius, a city and archiepiscopal seat, which Lithuania claimed as well as its own. Polish forces had occupied Vilnius and committed acts of brutality in its Catholic seminary there. This generated several protests of Lithuania to the Holy See. [Schmidlin III, 306.] Relations with the Holy See were defined during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI (1922-1939)

Poland

Before all other heads of State, Pope Benedict XVI on October 1918 congratulated the Polish people to their independence. [Schmidlin III, 306] In a public letter to the archbishop Kakowski of Warsaw, he remembered their loyalty and the many efforts of the Holy See to assist them. He expressed his hopes that Poland will take again its place in the family of nations and continue its history as an educated Christian nation. [Schmidlin III, 306] On March 1919, he nominated ten new bishops and, soon after, Achille Ratti, already in Warsaw as his representative, as papal nuncio. [Schmidlin III, 306] He repeatedly cautioned Polish authorities against persecuting against Lithuanian and Ruthenian clergy. [Schmidlin III, 307] During the Bolshevik advance against Warsaw, he asked for worldwide public prayers for Poland. Nuncio Ratti was the only foreign diplomat to stay in the Polish capital. On June 11, 1921, he wrote to the Polish episcopate, warning against political misuses of spiritual power, urging again peaceful coexistence with neighbouring people, stating that “love of country has its limits in justice and obligations.” [AAS 1921, 566] He sent nuncio Ratti to Silesia to act against potential political agitations of the Catholic clergy. [Schmidlin III, 307]

Ratti, a scholar, intended to work for Poland and build bridges to the Soviet Union, hoping even, to shed his blood for Russia. [Stehle 25] Pope Benedict XV needed him as a diplomat and not as amartyr and forbade any trip into the USSR although he was the official papal delegate for Russia. [Stehle 25] Therefore he continued his contacts to Russia. This did not generate much sympathy for him within Poland at the time. He was asked to go. “While he tried honestly to show himself as a friend of Poland, Warsaw forced his departure, after his neutrality in Silesian voting was questioned” [Stehle 26 ] by Germans and Poles. Nationalistic Germans objected to a Polish nuncio supervising elections, and Poles were upset because he curtailed agitating clergy. [Schmidlin IV, 15] On November 20, when German Cardinal Adolf Bertram announced a papal ban on all political activities of clergymen, calls for Ratti's expulsion climaxed in Warsaw. [Schmidlin IV, 15] Two year later, Achille Ratti became Pope Pius XI, shaping Vatican policies towards Poland with Pietro Gasparri and Eugenio Pacelli for the following thirty-six years. (1922-1958)

Pope Pius XI

Negotiations with the Soviet Union

In Berlin, Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli worked mainly on clarifying the relations between Church and the German State. But, after Achille Ratti was elected Pope, in the absence of a papal nuncio in Moscow, Pacelli worked also on diplomatic arrangements between the Vatican and the Soviet Union. He negotiated food shipments for Russia, where the Church was persecuted. He met with Soviet representatives including Foreign Minister Georgi Chicherin, who rejected any kind of religious education, the ordination of priests and bishops, but offered agreements without the points vital to the Vatican. [(Hansjakob Stehle, Die Ostpolitik des Vatikans, Piper, München, 1975, p.139-141] “An enormously sophisticated conversation between two highly intelligent men like Pacelli and Chicherin, who seemed not to dislike each other.” wrote one participant. [Hansjakob Stehle, Die Ostpolitik des Vatikans, Piper, München, 1975, p.132] Despite Vatican pessimism and a lack of visible progress, Pacelli continued the secret negotiations, until Pope Pius XI ordered them to be discontinued in 1927.

The " harsh persecution short of total annihilation of the clergy, monks, and nuns and other people associated with the Church, [Riasanovsky 617] , continued well into the Thirties. In addition to executing and exiling many clerics, monks and laymen, the confiscating of Church implements "for victims of famine" and the closing of churches were common. [Riasanovsky 634] Yet according to an official report based on the Census of 1936, some 55% of Soviet citizens identified themselves openly as religious, while others possibly concealed their belief. [Riasanovsky 634]

Poland

During the pontificate of Pope Pius XI (1922-1939), Church life in Poland flourished: There were some anti-clerical groups opposing the new role of the Church especially in education, [Schmidlin IV, 135] But numerous religious meetings and congresses, feasts and pilgrimages, many of which were accompanied by supportive letters from the Pontiff, took place. [Schmidlin IV, 135]

Under the pontificate of Pope Pius XI, his Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri with unusual candour expressed his views on the post-war order and the future of Poland: He told Ludwig von Pastor, that the Peace Treaty of Versailles will most certainly end in a new war, maybe even ten wars. [Von Pastor 681] He expressed his pleasure at the outcome of the Locarno treaty. However, the Polish Corridor continued to be a dark point in his estimation, requiring compromises. [Von Pastor 833] At the same time, he opined, Poland can only exist, if she works either with her neighbour in the East or West. Since the Soviet Union could not be relied upon, he considered it “outright stupid, to destroy bridges to the West. Poland will have to pay dearly later on, once Germany recuperates”. [Stehle 426]

In the late thirties, Polish Foreign Minister Beck came to Rome and requested an audience with Pope Pius XI. The Pope refused to see him, because Beck lived in disorderly family relations. Pacelli pointed out, that a Foreign Minister, not a saint was applying. The Pope insisted, even when the “Black Pope, Father General Wlodimir Ledochowski intervened. He was respectfully told to be quiet. [Tardini] His distaste for some Polish politicians did not extend to the Polish people. Pope Pius XI had received many pilgrims and delegations and was most cordial. He was especially grateful fo a Marian gift by the Polish Catholics, which he placed in the private Papal Chapel in Castel Gandolfo. [Pius XI: p]

Concordat

On February 10, 1925, a concordat (Concordat of 1925) was signed between Pietro Gasparri, Cardinal Secretary of State for the Vatican and Stanislaw Grabski for Poland. [Joanne M Restrepo Restrepo SJ, Concordata Regnante Sancissimo Domino Pio XI Inita, Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, Romae, 1932 ] The concordat has 27 articles, which guarantee the freedom of the Church and the faithful. It regulates the usual points of interests, Catholic instruction in primary schools and secondary schools, nomination of bishops, establishment of seminaries, a permanent nuncio in Warsaw, who also represents the interests of heHoly See in Gdansk. [Concordata, 3] [ Concordata 8] The concordat stipulates, that no part of Polish territory can be placed under the jurisdiction of a bishop outside of Poland. [Concordata 26]

The Church enjoys full protection of the State, and prays for the leaders of Poland during Sunday mass and on May Third. [Concordata 8] Clerics make a solemn oath of allegiance to the Polish State [Concordata 12] If clergy are under accusation, trial documents will be forwarded to ecclesiastical authorities if clergy are accused of crimes. If convicted, they will not serve incarceration in jails but will be handed over to Church authorities for internment in a monastery or convent. [Concordata 22] The concordat extends to the Latin rite in five ecclesiastical provinces of Gniezno and Poznan, Varsovie, Wilno, Lwow and Cracovie. It applies as well to united Catholics of the Greco-Ruthenian rite in Lwow, and Przemysl, and, to the Armenian rite in Lwow. [Concordata 9] for religious celebration in the specific rites, Canon law must be observed. [Concordata 18] Catholic instruction is mandatory in all public schools, except universities. [Concordata 13] In Article 24 Church and State recognize each others property rights seeming in part from the time of partition before 1918. This means, property rights and real estate titles of he Church are respected, a later agreement will define the status of expropriated Church properties, until that time, the State will pay Church dotations for its clergy.On paper the concordat seemed to be a victory for the Church. But Polish bishops felt forced to take measures against early violations, in the area of marriage legislation and property rights. Pope Pius XI was supportive of this and of episcopal initiatives to have their own plenary meetings [Schmidlin IV, 135] .

Lithuania [Schmidlin, Papal History, IV, 138 ff]

Lithuania was recognized by the Vatican in November 1922. The recognition included a stipulation by Pietro Gasparri to Lithuania, "“to have friendly relations with Poland”." There were diplomatic stand-stills, as the Lithuanian government refused to accept virtually all episcopal appointments by the Vatican. The relations did not did not improve when, in April 1926 Pope Pius XI unilaterally established and reorganized Lithuanian ecclesiastical province without regard to Lithuanian demands and proposals, the real bone of contention being Vilnius, occupied by Poland. In the Fall of 1925, Mečislovas Reinys, a Catholic professor of Theology became Lithuanian Foreign Minister, and asked for an agreement. The Lithuanian military took over a year later, and a proposal of a concordat, drafted by the papal visitator Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius, was agreed upon by the end of 1926. The concordat was signed a year later. Its content follows largely the Polish Concordat of 1925.

Pope Pius XII

Russia

Poland

References

* Acta Apostolicae Sedis ( AAS), Roma, Vaticano 1922-1960
* Acta et decreta Pii IX, Pontificis Maximi, VolI-VII, Romae 1854 ff
* Acta et decreta Leonis XIII, P.M. Vol I-XXII, Romae, 1881, ff
* Actae Sanctae Sedis, (ASS), Romae, Vaticano 1865
* Owen Chadwick, The Christian Church in the Cold War, London 1993
* Jesse D Clarkson, A history of Russia, Random House, New York, 1969
* Richard Cardinal Cushing, Pope Pius XII, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1959
* Victor Dammertz OSB, Ordensgemeinschaften und Säkularinstitute, in Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte, VII, Herder Freiburg, 1979, 355-380
* Matthias Erzberger, Erlebnisse im weltkrieg, Stuttgart, 1920
* A Galter, Rotbuch der verfolgten Kirchen, Paulus Verlag, Recklinghausen, 1957,
* Alberto Giovanetti, Pio XII parla alla Chiesa del Silenzio, Editrice Ancona, Milano, 1959, German translation, Der Papst spricht zur Kirche des Schweigens, Paulus Verlag, Recklinghausen, 1959
* Herder Korrespondenz Orbis Catholicus, Freiburg, 1946-1961
* Andrey Micewski, Cardinal Wyszynski, A biography, Harcourt, New York, 1984
* Pio XII Discorsi e Radiomessagi, Roma Vaticano1939-1959,
* Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, Oxford University Press, New York, 1963
* Josef Schmidlin Papstgeschichte, Vol I-IV, Köstel-Pusztet München, 1922-1939
* Jan Olav Smit, Pope Pius XII, London Burns Oates & Washbourne LTD,1951
* Hansjakob Stehle, Die Ostpolitik des Vatikans, Piper, 1975

Sources

See also

* Foreign relations of the Holy See