Relationships between the Church and the state in Lithuania in 1918-1940

1918-1940 metų laikotarpis Lietuvos valstybei ir Katalikų Bažnyčiai buvo didelių pasiekimų ir skaudžių įvykių metas. Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija ir Konkordatas reguliavo tarpvalstybinius Lietuvos ir Vatikano santykius, apibrėžė katalikų teises. Šis konkordatas buvo pažeistas, dėl ko kentėjo ne tik Lietuvos katalikai, bet sumažėjo ir tarptautinis Lietuvos Valstybės prestižas.Various changes in the relationship between Lithuania State and the Church were noticable since the very proclamation of Lithuania's independency. The fights for independency took place. Quite dramatic was the question of Vilnius, changed the 21st cabinet of Ministers ground reform, the constitution. There were declared Lithuania's Church provinces, the Concordat. After the Christian-democrats lost the summer election of 1926 the leftists came to power. The power of the nationalists, the attempts of the unexperienced government to enter and maintain diplomatic relations with various foreign countries. Very often the relations between the state and the Church are tense. The Constitution guaranteed the rights of the Church, but at the same time the policy towards the Vatican were not very rational. In 1926 the leftists come to power and tried to separate the Church from the State. After the proclamation of the Vatican - Polish Concordat in 1925, according to which the province of Vilnius remained in the structure of Polish Church province, the tensions between the Vatican and Lithuanian government reached the top in 1926. Although archbishop George Matulaitis had been suggesting the solution to the question of the Concordat with the Vatican, the Lithuanian Government were not able to properly estimate their political situation and their own negligence. In 1926 Pope Pius XI proclaimed the encyclical "Lituanorum gente" which declared that there had been formed Lithuanian Church province with new dioceses. The Concordat was ratified and published in "News of Government" on the 20 December, 1927. Lithuania with A. Smetona and A. Voldemaras at the head seemed to be much more disposed towards the Church than the previous led by K. Grinius. New president A. Smetona was much more reliable, but the real intentions of Augustinas Voldemaras were hard to force. Later the agreements of the Concordat were not kept to. The top of the tense in the relations between Lithuanian Government and the Church was the year 1931, when the government without any discussion with Nuncio archibishop Ricard Baitolini the rights of the realization concord, ordered the diplomat to leave Lithuania immediately. Though giving a lot of positive results not quite stable were the relations between the Holy Throne and Lithuania. They reflected the crlations of the State with the Church in Lithuania itself. During the changes in government the convictions and opinions of the Church Lithuania's believers used the tights and freedom guaranteed by the State, but sometimes the rights were restrained or even encrouched upon. In the years 1926- 1936 the relations between Lithuanian State and the Church were very interesting, dinamic and greatly benefitted the stale itself. It is a pity, Lithuania not always made proper use of this to increase the country's international prestige and confidence among the citizens. In 1940 the diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Lithuania were lost because of Soviet power