The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Lithuania’s Seimas (parliament) violated a human rights treaty when it refused to grant official recognition to a pagan group. The nation’s bishops have not objected to government recognition of Protestant bodies, but did object to the recognition of the pagan group. “Nor does it escape the Court’s attention that a letter from a Catholic authority had also been delivered to the Seimas and been quoted before the Seimas during the process of recognition,” the Court ruled. “involvement in the procedure for granting authorization of a recognized ecclesiastical authority cannot be reconciled with the State’s duty of neutrality and impartiality.”