Editing Pope Benedict XV (section)

=== Lithuania and Estonia ===
[[File:Rampolla 1913.jpg|145px|thumb|left|His friend Cardinal Rampolla at the age of 70, shortly before his death]]
The relations with Russia changed drastically for a second reason. The [[Baltic states]] and Poland gained their independence from Russia after [[World War I]], thus enabling a relatively free Church life in those former Russia-controlled countries. Estonia was the first country to look for [[Holy See|Vatican]] ties. On 11 April 1919, [[Cardinal Secretary of State]] Pietro Gasparri informed the Estonian authorities that the Vatican would agree to have diplomatic relations. A [[concordat]] was agreed upon in principle a year later in June 1920. It was signed on 30 May 1922. It guaranteed freedom for the Catholic Church, established archdioceses, liberated clergy from military service, allowed the creation of seminaries and Catholic schools, and enshrined church property rights and immunity. The Archbishop swore alliance to Estonia.<ref>Schmidlin III, 305</ref>

Relations with Catholic Lithuania were slightly more complicated because of the [[Polish occupation of Vilnius|Polish occupation]] of [[Vilnius]], a city and archiepiscopal seat, which Lithuania claimed as its own.{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}} This generated several protests by Lithuania to the Holy See.<ref>Schmidlin III, 306.</ref>