Romanian Carols at the Vatican
On the first Sunday after Christmas, Pope Francis greeted the Romanian community in Italy.
Florentin Căpitănescu, 30.12.2013, 15:15
For the entire Christian world Pope Francis is the messenger of a closer relationship between the Church and the faithful, especially through the Church’s deep involvement in people’s social life. In less than a year since he took up the papal office, Pope Francis has managed to build the image of a knight of justice, of an active militant against wars, human trafficking and child exploitation. Besides his active involvement in mending the injustices of the world, Pope Francis fosters a warm relationship with the other Christian and non-Christian religious denominations.
On Sunday in the San Pietro Square at the Vatican the Pope greeted the 150 representatives of the Romanian community in Italy. Dressed in folk costumes, the Romanians sang traditional carols for the Pope. This was the first time when Pope Francis addressed the Romanian community in Italy. Monseigneur Anton Lucaci was among the Romanians at the Vatican:
Anton Lucaci: “We were happy that the Pope mentioned the presence of the Romanian community members in the San Pietro Square, he addressed many messages to everyone but especially to the Romanians, and this was a great joy for us. In the past the Romanian community was not mentioned by the Pope.”
According to statistics, the Romanian community in Italy has more than 820 thousand members. Accounting for 20% of the foreigners who live in Italy, Romanians are by far the largest community in that country.
The new policies promoted by Pope Francis have brought him a lot of popularity. A survey published at the end of last week by the French daily Le Parisien shows that Pope Francis enjoys a favourable image among 85% of the French. Moreover, the Pontiff has a popularity rate of almost 90% among those who have a different religion and he is appreciated by almost 70% of the atheists. 86% of the French describe the Pope as congenial, 86% consider him close to the people, 85% believe he is modest, 82% think he is generous, 84% consider him honest and 81% courageous. However, the positive image of Pope Francis strongly contrasts with the image of the Catholic Church, about which only 48% of the French have a good opinion.
