1. You have been in Baltic’s for a while now. How do the three countries and the Catholic communities in these countries compare?
I arrived in the region in July of 2019 and officially commenced with my duties initially in Lithuania. In October of the same year, I presented my credentials in Latvia followed by Estonia in November. Lithuania has the largest number of Catholic faithful in the three Baltic States, which provides the Catholic Church with a solid foundation in which to continue its mission of evangelization in the country. In the case of Latvia, it has a smaller percentage of Catholics, yet it maintains a very strong Catholic tradition which is recognized and respected in society. Estonia, being the smallest country and population amongst the three States, can still be considered a developing Church since it is an Apostolic Administration, which means that it is not a diocese yet with native clergy. It must rely on the presence of foreign missionaries in order to fulfil its mission and sustain the local parishes. Despite its small numbers, I believe that the Catholic Church in Estonia is slowly increasing, in part not only to the arrival of new faithful to the country but also due to awakened interest in the Catholic faith by a number of the local Estonians.