On 14 December 2022, in Riga Castle, with the President of Latvia, Egils Levits, in attendance, a discussion “Relations between the State and the Church in a modern society” was held in association with the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia to the Holy See. The President spoke about the legal aspects in the regulation of relationship between the State and the Church in Satversme and the constitutions of other countries. The participants of the discussion, for their part, examined the interaction of traditional religious denominations in Latvia’s domestic and foreign policy activities aimed at strengthening statehood.
The centenary of the signing and coming into force of the Concordat between Latvia and the Holy See and its importance were highlighted by the Ambassador of Latvia to the Holy See, Elita Kuzma, and Petar Rajič, Apostolic Nuncio to Latvia, who noted that the conclusion of the Concordat was a confirmation of Latvia as an independent, sovereign and democratic state among the free nations of the world.
As concerns the relationship between the Latvian state and Churches, Mārtiņš Drēģeris, adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, underlined that during the interwar parliamentarism period, Latvia stood out on the European scale with its true ecumenism. Theologians and practicing clergy from all the traditional religious denominations, including Rabbis representing Judaism, were represented in the Constitutional Assembly and the composition of the first four Saeimas.
Other participants of the discussion were Lic. theol. Mihails Volohovs, lecturer at Riga Higher Institute of Religious Sciences; Dr. iur. Jānis Pleps, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Latvia; PhD Inese Runce, Leading Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia; and Dr med. Artūrs Utināns, lecturer at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychiatry, Riga Stradiņš University.
To call attention to the centenary of the Concordat, a special issue of Jurista Vārds magazine was published, dedicated to the relationship between the State and the Church from a legal perspective. The Ambassador of Latvia to the Holy See will hand over this issue, together with a gift of books from the National Library of Latvia, to Archbishop Angelo Vincenzo Zani, Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church.
The Concordat signed on 30 May 1922 was one of the first international treaties concluded by the Government of the Republic of Latvia, thereby consolidating Latvia’s place in the international community. The accord set an example for other concordats not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world.
The Holy See never recognized the incorporation of Latvia in the Soviet Union as legal, and has constantly supported the Latvian people in their efforts to regain independence.