Pope visit.<\/strong> On the first day of his
<\/p>\n
NATO.<\/strong> The most important multinational NATO exercise in Romania, Saber
<\/p>\n
EU.<\/strong> European
<\/p>\n
Film festival.<\/strong> Cluj-Napoca in
<\/p>\n
Tennis.<\/strong> The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, the
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pope Francis continues his 3-day visit to Romania. After Bucharest, he travels to Sumuleu Ciuc in Transylvania, and to Iasi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[13794,31972,28939,30412],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-nato","tag-pope","tag-tennis","tag-tiff"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nvisit to Romania, a majority Orthodox country, Pope Francis met state
\nofficials, civil society and the diplomatic corps on Friday in Bucharest. He
\nsaid that despite numerous difficulties and shortages, in the last thirty years
\nRomania has made many steps forward in the democratic process it has embarked
\non. During a meeting with president Klaus Iohannis, the pope paid tribute to
\nthe sacrifice of Romania’s sons and daughters who, through their culture, the
\nheritage of their values and labour, enrich the countries where they have
\nemigrated. The Romanian president said pontifical diplomacy continues to be a
\nfactor of peace and equilibrium in the tackling of global issues. Also on
\nFriday, the pontiff had a private meeting with the patriarch of the Romanian
\nOrthodox Church and with the Synod, saying that the 1999 meeting between Pope
\nJohn Paul II and Patriarch Teoctist was an event that not only gave a new
\nimpetus to the ties between Orthodox and Catholic Romanians but also the
\ndialogue between the Catholic and the Orthodox in general. The pontiff’s agenda
\non Friday’s also included the celebration of mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic
\nCathedral in Bucharest. He was cheered by thousands of people lining the
\nstreets. The pope is on a state, pastoral and ecumenical visit to Romania until
\nSunday. The trip is held under the motto Let’s walk together and comes twenty
\nyears after the historic visit of Pope John Paul II, the first by a pontiff to
\na majority Orthodox country. On Saturday, Pope Francis travels to \u015eumuleu Ciuc, in a part of Transylvania mostly
\ninhabited by ethnic Hungarian Roman Catholics, and to Iasi, in the north-east,
\na city home to a sizeable ethnic Romanian Catholic community. On Sunday, His
\nHoliness will be travelling to Blaj, in central Transylvania, the spiritual
\ncapital of ethnic Romanian Greek Catholics, where he will beatify seven Greek
\nCatholic bishops who died for their faith during the communist regime.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nGuardian 2019, will be taking place between the 3rd and the 24th
\nof June, the Romanian defence ministry announced on Friday. The main
\ngoal of the exercise is to emphasise the cohesion, unity and solidarity of
\nallied and partner states with a view to defending themselves against any form
\nof aggression, in particular through rapid mobilisation and deployment of
\ntroops anywhere in Europe. Around 13,500 troops from 14 allied and partner
\nstates are taking part, including 7,600 from the Romanian army. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nUnion member states spent in 2016 more than 350 billion euros (2.4% of the Union’s
\nGDP) on families and children, accounting for 9% of the total social protection
\nspending, according to data made public on Friday by the European Statistics
\nOffice (Eurostat). The lowest annual expenditure for family and child
\nprotection, below 200 euros\/capita, were reported in Romania and Bulgaria (120
\neuros each), Lithuania (150 euros) and Greece (170 euros), and the highest were
\nin Luxemburg (3,000 euros), Denmark (1,700 euros), Sweden (1,400 euros), and Germany
\nand Finland (1,200 euros). The Eurostat data were made public ahead of the
\nInternational Children’s Day, celebrated around the world on June 1. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nnorth-western Romania is hosting, starting on Friday until June 8, the 18th
\nedition of the Transylvania International Film Festival. Running in the TIFF
\nofficial competition are 12 productions, but more than 200 films will be
\nscreened as part of the Festival. This year’s edition celebrates 3 major film
\nindustries: the French, Chinese and Albanian. Romanian filmmakers are also well
\nrepresented, with over 40 productions. Actor Nicolas Cage will receive an
\naward for his contribution to the development of the world film industry. We
\nhave more on this after the news.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\ndefending Roland Garros champion and the no. 3 seed, on Saturday will be facing
\nUkraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, world no. 27, in the third round at Roland Garros,
\nthe second Grand Slam tournament of the year. On Thursday, Halep defeated Magda
\nLinette of Poland, while Tsurenko defeated Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia, whose
\nmatch had been suspended on Thursday for light. Irina Begu is the only other
\nRomanian singles player to reach the Roland Garros 3rd round. She
\nwill take on Amanda Anisimova of the US on Saturday. In the men’s doubles, also
\non Saturday, two Romanian players will play, in different pairs, in the
\ntournament’s quarterfinals. Marius Copil and his doubles pair, India’s Rohan
\nBopanna, will face the Serbian pair Dusan Lajovic and Janko Tipsarevic, while
\nHoria Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer of The Netherlands will face the American
\nbrothers Bob and Mike Bryan. <\/p>\n