The Lithuanian and Belаrusian Constitutional Catholic Party () was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, founded by the Vilna bishop

Eduard von der Ropp Edward Ropp (; 1851–1939) was a Polish nobleman of Baltic German origins, Bishop of Vilnius and Catholic Church, Roman Catholic metropolitan archbishop of Mogilev. He was born 2 December 1851 near Līksna in present-day LatviaJānis Svilāns a ...

on February 7, 1906. It sought unification of the lands of the former

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. It worked for the establishment of a Polish government administration and the setting up of Polish armed forces. The party demanded exemption for Catholics from compulsory

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

, autonomy for the Catholic Church to run its own training of its clergy without government interference and the right for Catholic bishops to have direct links with the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. Von der Ropp was elected to the

State Duma of the Russian Empire The State Duma, also known as the Imperial Duma, was the lower house of the legislature in the Russian Empire, while the upper house was the State Council (Russian Empire), State Council. It held its meetings in the Tauride Palace in Saint Peters ...

External links

Party Program (1906)

References

Political parties established in 1906 Political parties of minorities in Imperial Russia Catholic political parties 1906 establishments in the Russian Empire {{Russia-party-stub