CATERIN II OF RUSSIA (1729-1796). Signed autograph letter to Giacomo Durazzo on the religious policy of the Russian Empire and relations with the Holy See. St. Petersburg, 1783. Signed autograph letter "Catherine," 3 pages in French with manuscript address on the verso, addressed to Count Giacomo Durazzo (1717-1794), Genoese diplomat at the service of the Habsburg monarchy. Important political document on the relations between the court of St. Petersburg and the Holy See after the establishment of the Archdiocese of Mohilev. Catherine II communicates that she has received the pontifical response regarding the organization of the Catholic hierarchy in the territories of the Russian Empire and instructs Durazzo to firmly support the position of the imperial court in Rome. The sovereign reaffirms the principles of religious tolerance that inspire her government, however, stating that no ecclesiastical authority can interfere with the sovereignty of the State and civil administration. Rare testimony of Catherine II's religious policy and the complex diplomatic relations between Russia, the Habsburg Empire and the Holy See in the years following the first partition of Poland, addressed to one of the most authoritative European diplomats of the eighteenth century. Letter (260 x 190mm) send to the back and seal in wax lacquer. (1)