Alexey Komarov, Evgenia Tokareva The Roman Catholic Church and the Construction of National Identity in Estonia in the Interwar Period (According to Vatican Archival Materials) Alexey Komarov - Leading Research Fellow, Head of the Centre for Nordic and Baltic History of Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia); Professor II, Department of History and Religious Studies, University of Tromso, Norway. alexeykomarov@yandex.ru Evgenia Tokareva - Leading Research Fellow, Head of the Center on the History of Religion and Church of Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia); Professor, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute). estokareva@yandex.ru The paper deals with the relations of the Holy See and Estonia in the interwar period. During this period, the Vatican showed interest in the possibility of advancement of Catholicism in the newly formed Estonian state. This activity of the Holy See was met with understanding on the part of the Estonian political elite. The representatives of the latter, interested in encouraging the formation of national identi- The research was supported by the Fundamental Research Program of the History Section of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Nations and the State in World History" (A. A. Komarov). The paper uses materials from three Vatican archives: the Vatican Secret Archive (Archivio segreto Vaticano-hereinafter ASV), the Historical Archive of the Second Section of the Secretariat of State (formerly the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs) (lArchivio storico della II sezione della Segreteria di Stato (gia Congregazione per gli Affari Ecclesiastici Straordinari), hereinafter-AA. EE. SS), the Historical Archive of the Congregation for Oriental Churches (lArchivio storico della Congregazione per le Chiese Orientali, hereinafter-CO). page 136ty and assimilation national minoriti ... Read more