On Tuesday, Pope Francis signed a decree on the beatification of the
\n7 Romanian Greek-Catholic bishops who sacrificed their lives for faith.
\nAccording to the official website of the Holy See, they are Valeriu Traian
\nFrentiu, Vasile Aftenie, Ioan Suciu, Tit Liviu Chinezu, Ioan Balan, Alexandru
\nRusu and Iuliu Hossu. All of them died in communist prisons or under strict
\npolitical police surveillance between 1950 and 1970, because they refused to
\ntrade their freedom for renouncing their religion. Romania has never
\nexperienced religious wars, Inquisition practices or burnings at the stake. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nthe royal Constitution of 1923, the Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches, both
\nhaving made tremendous contributions to the accomplishment of the Great Union of
\n1918, were defined as national faiths. The Greek Catholic belief was outlawed
\nby the communist regime shortly after World War II, at the orders and following
\nthe example of the Soviet occupiers, which would not tolerate the spiritual
\nauthority of the Vatican on the believers this side of the Iron Curtain. Just
\nlike in western Ukraine, Romanian Greek Catholicism was prohibited, and its
\nproperty either nationalised, or transferred to the Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
My battle is done, yours must go on, Bishop Iuliu Hossu reportedly
\nsaid on his deathbed. His faith became legal once again after the
\nanti-communist revolution of 1989, and the Greek Catholic Church regained some
\nof its assets. In the latest census, 86.5% of the citizens of Romania declared
\ntheir affiliation to the Orthodox faith, only 4.6% declared themselves
\nRoman-Catholic and less than 1% Greek Catholic. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to the Greek Catholic Bishop of Cluj, Florin Crihalmeanu,
\nthe beatification ceremony might be performed by Pope Francis himself, in Blaj,
\nat the famous Field of Liberty, a place of paramount symbolic importance for
\nthe identity of Transylvanian Romanians. This may well be the climax of the
\nvisit His Holiness will pay to Romania between May 31st and June 2nd.
\nUnder the motto Let’s Walk Together, the Pope will visit the capital city
\nBucharest, Iasi, the largest city in the east of the country and home to a
\nsizeable Roman-Catholic community, Blaj in the centre, which is the spiritual
\ncapital of Romanian Greek-Catholics, and the Marian shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, in
\nthe centre of Romania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to the Patriarchy spokesman Vasile Banescu, the visit has
\nbeen confirmed and it highlights the good relations between the Romanian
\nOrthodox Church and the Roman-Catholic Church. In 1999, Romania was the first
\ncountry with an Orthodox majority ever to be visited by a Sovereign Pontiff.
\nInvited by the Christian Democrat President Emil Constantinescu and the then
\nOrthodox Patriarch, Teoctist, John Paul II was received with love and
\nenthusiasm by hundreds of thousands of Romanians, who, regardless of their
\nfaith, saw him as the most beloved Pope in history and a man who had played a
\nvital role in the ousting of communist dictatorships.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahead of his visit to Romania, Pope Francis agreed to the beatification of 7 Greek-Catholic bishops who were victims of the communist dictatorship in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":81135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[34607,31972],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-81134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-francis","tag-pope"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n