20 years
\nsince the first visit of a Sovereign Pontiff to an Orthodox majority country,
\nthe head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis paid a visit to Romania, which was
\nunder the sign of the unity of all Christians. The first moments of the visit
\nhad a diplomatic touch, the Sovereign Pontiff speaking about the fraternity of
\nblood equally claimed by Catholicism and Orthodoxy:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nbonds of faith which unite us date back to the Apostles, witnesses of the risen
\nJesus, particularly to the bond that united Peter and Andrew, who according to
\ntradition, brought Christianity to your lands. Blood brothers, they were also
\nin an exceptional way brothers in shedding their blood for the Lord. They
\nremind us there is a fraternity of blood which precedes us and which as a
\nsilent and life-givng stream flowing down the centuries has never ceased to
\nnourish and sustain us on our journey.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On the other
\nhand, Pope Francis noted the progress which Romania has made in the last 30
\nyears when it has committed itself to a democratic project, despite numerous
\ndifficulties and shortcomings it has been confronted with. The symbolic
\nsignificance of the Pope’s visit to Romania consists in what he defined as the
\nhuman price paid by Romania to step into the 21st century – the
\ndiaspora and the role of the church in serving the whole community – theologian
\nand priest Radu Preda told Radio Romania International:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It
\nis clear that as regards the social and ethical message, there is a very wide
\nrange of contact and even of identification of values between Orthodox and
\nCatholic Christians. The Pope is not only a vector of image of a single person,
\nbut also the synthesis of history where surely, there are also less pleasant
\nmoments related at least to us, Orthodox believers. But all in all, in the
\ncurrent international circumstances, it is clear that we need a bigger
\nChristian solidarity than we have proved to have so far. The Pope underscored
\nthe human price we pay for Romania to reach the 21st century. Millions
\nof co-nationals, our brothers and sisters, as he put it so well, left their
\ncountry where unfortunately, they could not see their dream come true, adding
\nmore value in other countries, primarily in Italy. Let’s not forget that the
\nRomanian community in Italy, if I am not mistaken, is the largest one, followed
\nby the one in Spain and if I am not mistaken by the one in Germany. So,
\nemphasis is laid on the diaspora.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Pope Francis
\npaid hommage to the sacrifice made by the sons and daughters of Romania, who
\nthrough their culture, their values and work, enrich the countries where they
\nemigrated and who through the fruit of their work help their families back
\nhome. Unlike the pastoral visit which Pope John Paul the 2nd paid to
\nRomania in 1999 and which had a predominantly ecumenical focus, also
\nbenefitting from the invitation of the Romanian Orthodox Church, in addition to
\nthat of the state officials, Pope Francis came to Romania at the invitation of
\nits president and of the Catholic Church in Romania. Through liturgical
\ncelebrations, his visit had a pastoral character being first of all focused on
\nCatholic believers. There were a few firsts in the apostolic visit by Pope
\nFrancis to Romania: it lasted three days, which had never happened in any other
\nEuropean country, the Pope equally visiting Catholic Christians in their
\nlinguistic and liturgical diversity and the Orthodox Christians. The last day
\nof the Pope’s visit, focusing on the Greek-Catholic Church, had a special
\nsymbolic touch. On the Freedom Plain in the central town of Blaj, the Pope
\nbeatified seven Greek-Catholic bishops, martyred by the former communist
\nregime, who were jailed and tortured and who died of maltreatment, opposing a
\nsystem that repressed basic human rights as the Sovereign Pontiff recalled.
\nWilhelm Danca, the dean of the Roman-Catholic Faculty of Theology in Bucharest,
\nspoke about the Pope’s visit to Romania:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the
\nBalkan area, I find this meeting very important. North of Romania, in Ukraine,
\nthere are fractures, division and separation within the Orthodox Church,
\ntendencies of breaking and fragmentation of Christian unity. There are two or
\neven three churches there: one is related to Moscow, another one to
\nConstantinople and the last one is autonomous. In the Republic of Moldova there
\nare two communities: a metropolitan bishopric which is related to Moscow and
\nanother one related to Bucharest. South of Romania, in Bulgaria, the Orthodox
\nChurch is related to Moscow, not to Constantinople. The church in the Republic
\nof North Macedonia broke away from Serbia and wants to join the Orthodox Church
\nin Bulgaria. You see, these are tendencies of relocation, of separation, of
\nunification and the only church conveying a message of unity, somehow as a
\nunitary church, is the Romanian Orthodox Church. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I came to
\nthis beautiful and welcoming country as a pilgrim and brother for various
\nmeetings. And now I go back home enriched, taking with me places and moments
\nand especially faces. Your faces will lend colour to my memories and will be
\npresent in my prayer. Thank you and I’ll take you with me. And now I’m blessing
\nyou but first of all I want to ask you a great favour: pray for me! – the
\nSovereign Pontiff said at the end of his visit to Romania.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
20 years since the first visit of a Sovereign Pontiff to an Orthodox majority country, the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis paid a visit to Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43939],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-156149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-starts-today"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n