PRATARMö - Lietuvių katalikų mokslo akademija

*85
LIETUVOS IR VATIKANO SANTYKIAI, ARBA ŠVENTOJO SOSTO REIKŠMö
TARPUKARIO LIETUVOS UŽSIENIO POLITIKAI
ment of the Republic of Lithuania. The concordat stimulated Lithuania's relations
with neighboring countries, primarily Poland and Germany.
Nevertheless, the diplomatic relations of Lithuania and the Holy See were
not always positive. Two times – in 1925/26 and in 1930/31 their relations balanced
dangerously on the verge of a crisis. Nevertheless, the diplomats of Lithuania
and the Holy See succeeded in solving the problems that arose. Eventually
the relations between the countries improved. Rational and pragmatic actions
replaced emotional impressions. Mutual understanding grew and solid diplomatic
cooperation traditions were formed. The Republic of Lithuania grew
politically, economically, and culturally. In parallel with this, its political and diplomatic
elite matured. The young generation often with more education and
contemporary thinking gradually strengthened the older generation of political
leaders.
In the second half of the 1930s, when the deluge of World War II was approaching,
the relations of Lithuania and Vatican survived both better and worse
days. Looking from a retrospective and more general viewpoint, one can state
that at that time the interrelations of these two states often copied the general
European political panorama or at least its tendencies. The diplomats of Kaunas
and the Vatican discussed the subject of war and peace in various meetings more
than once. The positive influence of the Holy See on the Republic of Lithuania
continued until the very destruction of its statehood. In the autumn of 1939,
when Lithuania reclaimed its historical capital – Vilnius and at the same time de
facto fell into the grip of a Soviet protectorate, the Holy See did not turn away
from Lithuania, but tried to help it. The Government of Lithuania at the end of
1939 – beginning of 1940 mainly succeeded in its struggle to introduce Lithuanian
Masses in the churches of the Vilnius region and to calm down the radically
inclined local national communities.
Therefore, the diplomatic relations of Lithuania and the Holy See during the
interwar period were an integral part of European political discourse of that time.
The landscape of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and the Holy See
during that time probably was a little bit more varied than other parts of the political
panorama.
379