Pope Pius X and Russia

Tsar Nicolas issued a decree on 22 February 1903, promising religious freedom for the Catholic Church, and, in 1905, promulgated a constitution, which included religious freedom.[1]

The Russian Orthodox Church nevertheless felt threatened and insisted on stiff interpretations. Papal decrees were not permitted and contacts with the Vatican remained outlawed.

A religious movement supported and financed by Russia, the Mariavites, began to gain ground among Polish Catholics, although the Pope had condemned it in 1907.[2] In his encyclical Tribus circiter Pope Pius wrote to the episcopate, warning against national radicals and asking for peace and order.[3]

In 1907, Pius X signed an agreement that prescribed mandatory Russian history and literature courses in Catholic seminaries in Polish Russia in exchange for greater rights for Catholics.[2]

The publication of the Apostolic Letter Ea Semper, which dealt with the Eastern Rite Catholics in the United States, led to a number of defections to the Russian Orthodox Church in America.

Toward the end of his life, Pius X felt betrayed by Russia, which had not eased the conditions of Polish Catholics. At his last public reception of the Diplomatic Corps, he publicly told the Russian ambassador, Aleksandr Nelidov:

We will not accept greetings or congratulations from Russia, which did not keep a single promise to us or to the Catholics in Russia.

As the surprised ambassador disagreed, the Pope rose from his throne and asked the ambassador to leave the room.[4][5]

• Acta Apostolicae Sedis ( AAS), Roma, Vaticano 1922-1960
• L. Boudou, Le S. Siege et la Russie, Paris, 1890
• Owen Chadwick, The Christian Church in the Cold War, London 1993
• Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte, VII, Herder Freiburg, 1979, 355-380