April 9, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 09.04.2023, 19:15

Easter.
Tens of thousands of Catholic Christians coming from all over the world,
including from Romania, attended the Easter service held by Pope Francis in
Rome’s St Peter’s Square on Sunday, followed by the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing. He said
Easter is the most important and beautiful day of history and spoke about a path
of mutual trust among people, peoples and nations and again called for peace in
the world. Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards
peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia,” said the
pope in his address. He also asked the Russian people to seek the truth about
their country’s invasion of Ukraine and called for dialogue between the
Israelis and the Palestinians after tensions have flared up again in the Middle
East.

Palm
Sunday. Romania’s majority Orthodox Christians as well as its Greek Catholic
community celebrated Palm Sunday, which is about Christ’s triumphal entry into
Jerusalem before being crucified. On the eve of the holiday, Orthodox
Christians took part in processions held around the country. The head of the
Romanian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Daniel, said the Palm Sunday pilgrimage
paves the way for the holy Easter and the confession of Christ, the conqueror
of death. The faithful who attended the Palm Sunday service received blessed
willow tree branches.

Swimming.
Romanian swimmer David Popovici qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as his
time in the 100 m freestyle at Saturday’s National Championships was within the
Olympic standard. Popovici holds both the world title and the world record in
this event, as well as the European title. Last year, the Swimming World
magazine named him the swimmer of the year. Popovici is the second Romanian
athlete to qualify for the Paris Games after the Kenyan-born runner Delvine
Relin Meringor, thanks to her time in
the Barcelona marathon in March.

Book fair.
On the final day of the Gaudeamus Book Fair organised by Radio Romania in Cluj
Napoca, in the north-west, book lovers were treated to a host to launches,
discounts and special offers. EIKON publishing house launched a number of books about music and a
children’s book. Presentations were hosted of books by Pascal Bentoiu, Elena
Maria Şorban and Vladimir Agachi. The 22nd Gaudeamus edition to be held in Cluj Napoca
featured 61 different stands and over 30 book launches and presentations. This
year’s honorary president was writer Alex Moldovan. The fair took place between
5th and 9th April. (CM)