Pontiff marks centenary of Lithuanian ecclesiastical province

June 25, 2026

Pope Leo XIV marked the centenary of the establishment of the Lithuanian ecclesiastical province with a Latin-language letter to his special envoy to the Mass commemorating the occasion.

In 1926, Pope Pius XI established the province to conform with Lithuania’s political boundaries, following the nation’s 1918 declaration of independence from Russia.

In April, Pope Leo appointed Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, as his envoy to the Mass, which is scheduled to take place on June 27 in the Kaunas Cathedral Basilica.

Citing Pope Leo XIII’s 1890 encyclical Sapientiae Christianae, Pope Leo XIV asked Archbishop Gallagher to encourage the faithful “in these stormy times to love justice, secure peace, and safeguard charity, which contain the chief support of the Christian life, without which virtues are either entirely absent or barren of fruit, providing a safeguard in the arena of Christian virtues for the salvation of the state.”

The letter, dated May 28, was released on June 24.

 

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Further information:

• Letter of the Holy Father to the Special Envoy for the Celebration of the Centenary of the Canonical Erection of the Lithuanian Ecclesiastical Province [Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Kaunas, 27 June 2026]
• Letter of the Holy Father to the Special Envoy for the centenary of the canonical erection of the Ecclesiastical Province of Lithuania (Holy See Press Office, 6/24/26)