The ukase of 1769 of Yekaterina II (Catherine II) on the Roman Catholic Church. A fundamental legal document of the Catholic Church legislation in Imperial Russia

Abstract

The aim of this work is to introduce Empress Catherine II like a state woman and legislator little known in Latin America. Recently two volumes with one thousands page each have been published. We analize the document N° 148 from chapter 3.2 “On non-orthodox religions”, in the volume 1, under the title of “Regulation given to the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Petersburgh”. This was generated as a consequence of a complaint by the multinational catholic Community to the Roman Clergy for not considering the believers’ petitions, for not stopping the financial abuses by the hired priests. Catherine II legislates on the performance of the church in favor of the believers without touching religious matters. Among the main items there was the control of the possessions by the Community which prevented the unilateral administrations by Parish priest. The communication with Rome was only allowed for spiritual matters