Catherine II’s Confessional Policy Regarding the Integration of Catholics into the Russian Empire during the First Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Catherine II’s confessional policy regarding the incorporation of Catholics into the Russian Empire was largely aimed at strengthening state control over the Church. Following the First Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, this policy enabled the Russian state to initiate the legal integration of its Catholic population — though not without generating numerous conflicts with the Holy See. In 1783, in an effort to resolve these tensions, the papal nuncio Andrea Giovanni Archetti was appointed as the first official papal delegate to Russia. His arrival marked a major episode in the diplomatic history of Catherine’s reign. Archetti, acting as the official representative of the Holy See, recognized Stanisław Bohusz Siestrzeńcewicz — Catherine’s appointee — as Archbishop of the newly created Catholic Archdiocese of Mogilev. This act effectively signaled the Holy See’s recognition of the Russian Empire’s ecclesiastical authority over Catholics within its borders.