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Between the Vatican and Moscow: The Lithuanian Imprint on the Death Throes of the Soviet Union (1979–1989)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 May 2022
Abstract
By introducing different types of sources—published documents on Vatican's Eastern policy, archival material of the Soviet governmental agencies, egodocuments of local ecclesiastical leaders—this article tries to identify the role Lithuanian subjects have played in the field of Vatican-USSR relations during the first half of Pope John Paul II's pontificate. The research reveals that, since the end of 1970s, issues pertaining to the Lithuanian Catholic Church were considered priority agenda items—both within the halls of the Vatican and in the central government offices of the Soviet regime. An analysis of available sources illustrates also that interrelated issues of the boundaries of the Vilnius Archdiocese and the question of its further administration constituted the most acute node of issues during the period under review. The Soviet regime was the most interested in focusing on these issues, as it hoped thereby to dispel any mutual sympathies between Lithuanian Catholics and the Polish pope, put a stop to the emerging cooperation between Catholics in Lithuania and Poland, and bring an end to the politically costly case of Bishop Steponavičius, who by then had become a symbol of the Lithuanian Catholic Church's resistance. Suppressing of any attempts of the Holy See to be represented at commemoration of important events in Lithuania's history was yet another highly complicated task for the Soviet authorities.
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References
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3 Within this context, one of the few mentionable exceptions is the case study of Slovakia: Emilia Hrabowec, “L'Ostpolitik di Giovanni Paolo II e la Slovacchia (1978–1989),” in Incorrupta monumenta Ecclesiam defendunt: studi offerti a mons. Sergio Pagano, prefetto dell’ Archivio Segreto Vaticano, ed. Andreas Gottsmann, Pierantonio Piatti, Andreas E. Rehberg (Citta del Vaticano: Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, 2018), 267–290.
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21 This was part of a broader plan for the reorganization of the Lithuanian church hierarchy by which, in exchange for the ordination as bishops of two additional clergymen loyal to the Soviet regime, another former deportee, Bishop Sladkevičius, would be given a post.
22 Interview with Cardinal A. J. Bačkis, October 29, 2018, author's personal archives.
23 In 1980, efforts succeeded not only regarding the opening of a Catholic chapel for athletes competing in the Olympic Games in Moscow, but also for the import of forty-five tons of high-quality paper for the printing of new missals in the Lithuanian language. At a meeting with the CPAC Secretary in Rome on September 4, 1980, the director of the Soviet Foreign Ministry's First Section, Anatoly Adamishin, expressed his satisfaction with the state of unofficial contacts, which facilitated the discussion and resolution of issues. See meeting minutes prepared by Mons. Sainz, September 4, 1980, in La politica del dialogo, 832.
24 For more, see Arūnas Streikus, “Bažnyčia tremtyje: vyskupas Julijonas Steponavičius,” LKMA Metraštis, 35 (2011): 22.
25 Povilonis, August 1, 1983.
26 Povilonis, April 21, 1982.
27 Copy of excerpt from the diary of V. Bogomazov, Counsellor at the Soviet Embassy in Rome, June 15, 1982, LYA, 1771, 260/183: 128.
28 Report by E. Juozėnas, Deputy CRA Representative in the Lithuanian SSR, on his conversation with Bishop L. Povilonis, May 29, 1980, LCVA, R-181, 3/105: 225.
29 Interview with Cardinal A. J. Bačkis.
30 Ibid.
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36 Made all the more acute by the announcement in early 1984 of the establishing of official diplomatic ties between the United States and the Holy See, clearly signalling the close cooperation developing between Washington and Rome.
37 The greatest number of such articles was authored by Ivan Tikhonovich (later also known as Jan Chiechanowicz, a Polish-speaking politician of questionable reputation), then the director of the Division for Vatican Eastern Policy, Clerical Anti-Communism and Counterpropaganda of the Institute of Scientific Atheism's Vilnius Branch.
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39 For more see: Artūras Grickevičius, Užsienio lietuvių vyskupas Paulius Antanas Baltakis OFM: tarnystės Bažnyčiai ir Tėvynei kelias (Kaunas: Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, 2018).
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49 Ibid., 847.
50 USSR KGB PGU assignment “Regarding activities concerning the Vatican,” November 2, 1988, LYA, K-35, 2/233: 35.