ABSTRACT
When Stalin died in March 1953, an era ended, a brief power struggle for leadership of the Soviet empire ensued, and Nikita Khrushchev eventually emerged at the head of the Soviet politburo. For the Roman Catholic Church, the beginning of de-Stalinization did lead to some initial improvement in Lithuania. Khrushchev was faced with the hard fact that the Stalinist system was politically unpopular, economically inefficient and socially strained. Besides the issue of de-Stalinization, Khrushchev also had to deal with the Cold War. Demonstrating a new openness to and tolerance of different religions and hoping to heal the age-old strain with Russian Orthodoxy and offer an alternative solution to Russia's recurring dilemma, he invited the Russian Orthodox Church to send observers to the Second Vatican Council in 1962. Brezhnev emerged as the main leader and, like Khrushchev, had to face the three massive challenges that were causing the Soviet empire to hemorrhage: the dissent movement, Cold War and rift with China.
