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Tag: Francis

February 23, 2025 UPDATE

POPE FRANCIS Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church wished Pope Francis a speedy recovery, in a message sent on Sunday on behalf of himself, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the clergy and all Romanian Orthodox believers.

The Patriarch says he prays for Pope Francis to recover and resume his pastoral and missionary work as soon as possible.

Aged 88, Pope Francis has been hospitalised in Rome for almost 10 days with bilateral pneumonia, and his health has worsened. Pope Francis was elected head of the Catholic Church in 2013. (AMP)

23 February 2025
November 23, 2019 UPDATE

ELECTIONS Romania holds the decisive round of its presidential election on Sunday. The incumbent president Klaus Iohannis, endorsed by the National Liberal Party, now in power, is facing the former Social Democratic PM Viorica Dancilă. Just like in the first round, the Romanians living abroad have 3 days to cast their ballots, and the number of pollings stations abroad has been doubled, to 838. The vote started at noon on Friday and will continue until Sunday. The number of citizens having voted so far indicates a higher turnout in the runoff than in the first round. By Saturday evening, over 315,000 Romanians had voted in foreign polling stations, of whom 17,500 voted by post, an option introduced this year for the first time. The largest numbers of voters were reported in Italy, followed by Britain, Germany, Spain and the Republic of Moldova.

GAUDEAMUS The Gaudeamus International Book Fair, organised in Bucharest by Radio Romania, comes to an end on Sunday. On the last day of the fair, the awards of the 26th edition will be presented. 8,000 book stands have been put up as part of this edition, devoted to the 30 years since the anti-communist revolution of 1989. A total of 900 different events were scheduled, including book launches, debates and book signing sessions. On Saturday, the 4th day of the Fair, Prof. Thierry Wolton took part in the launch of the second volume of his trilogy “A World History of Communism. In this volume, entitled ‘The Victims’, Thierry Wolton speaks about the tens of millions that suffered imprisonment, deportation, torture and even extermination for their anti-communist beliefs.

NATIONAL DAY 3,500 Romanian troops and another 500 from over 20 allied or partner countries, 200 military vehicles and over 50 aircraft will take part on December 1 in Bucharest in the National Day parade, the Defence Ministry has announced. The Romanian military on missions in theatres of operations in Afghanistan, the Western Balkans and Mali will also organise military ceremonies on National Day. Proclaimed a national holiday after the anti-communist revolution of 1989, December 1 marks the conclusion of the establishment of the Romanian nation-state at the end of World War 1, in 1918.

COLECTIV After the Bucharest Court completed its investigations, on Monday the prosecution and the defence will present their closing statements in the case concerning the fire in Colectiv night club in Bucharest 4 years ago, in which 64 people died, one committed suicide further to the trauma and 200 others were injured. The Colectiv trial started in April 2016. After 2 years of deferrals over procedural matters, the judge assigned to the case retired, and during another year the new judge has heard the statements of scores of witnesses and victims.

UN The 15 members of the UN Security Council endorsed a declaration reaffirming the ban on chemical weapons. The Council has reached a consensus long undermined by the war in Syria, and the Skripal affair in the UK or Kim Jong-nam case in Malaysia, AFP reports. The Council reaffirms that the use of chemical weapons is a violation of international law, and declares its firm opposition to it. The declaration, proposed by Great Britain, was passed unanimously. The UN Security Council urges all states that have not yet done so to sign the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons, which was signed in 1993 and came into force in 1997. Syria joined the Convention in 2013, Israel has signed it, but is yet to ratify it, whereas North Korea, Egypt and South Sudan are not yet parties to this Convention.

POPE Pope Francis arrived in Japan on Saturday, on the second leg of his tour of Asia whose main goal is to send a message against nuclear weapons in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the only cities in the world ever hit by atomic bombs, Reuters says. On Sunday in Nagasaki the Pope, a vocal militant against nuclear weapons, will read a message against weapons of mass destruction. He will also meet with survivors of the Fukushima nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011, the most destructive after the one in Chernobyl in 1986. After Thailand, the first stop in his tour, the Pope reached Tokyo, where he will stay for 4 days. This is the first visit by a Sovereign Pontiff to this country in 38 years, and only the second in history. Another goal of his visit is to encourage the Catholic community in Japan, where only 1% of the population are Christians and half of these Catholics. The Pope will perform 2 services, one in Nagasaki and one in Tokyo, and will have meetings with senior Japanese officials and with Emperor Naruhito.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

23 November 2019
Pope Francis’ Visit to Romania

‘May the Virgin Mary give her
mother blessing to all Romanian citizens, who during history have put their trust
in her intercession. I entrust you all to Virgin Mary and pray that she may
guide you on the path of faith’ Pope Francis wrote in a touching message posted
on Twitter on Sunday night in the plane that was carrying him back to the
Vatican after the visit he had paid to Romania.

Under the suggestive motto, ‘Let us
walk together!’, the Pontiff paid a three-day pastoral and ecumenical visit to
Romania, which was welcomed by the Romanians with warmth and eagerness. Many
Romanians took to the streets to see Pope Francis, one of the most beloved
Pontiffs, whose popularity resides in his humanity, modesty and austerity.

The first day, which he spent in
Bucharest, was marked by moments of symbolical and historical nature. Pope
Francis was received by President Klaus Iohannis and held talks with the
country’s Prime Minister Viorica Dancila. He visited the Patriarchy Palace,
where he had a private meeting with Daniel, the Patriarch of the Romanian
Orthodox Church; he delivered a speech at the National Cathedral and said the
Lord’s Prayer in Latin.

Pope Francis also held a mass at
St. Joseph’s Cathedral and hailed the tens of thousands who came to see him. On
the second day of his visit, Pope Francis held a Pontifical Liturgy at the
Marian Shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, eastern Transylvania, an area mainly inhabited
by ethnic Hungarians, which sees the largest annual Catholic pilgrimage in
Central and Eastern Europe.

Pope Francis: This annual
pilgrimage belongs to the Transylvanian heritage, but brings honour to both the
Romanian and Hungarian traditions. Christians of other denominations are
participating in it as this is the symbol of dialogue, unity and fraternity.

After Sumuleu Ciuc, His Holiness
left for Iasi, in north-eastern Romania, a city that boasts a large community
of Catholic believers. ‘Romania is the Garden of the Virgin Mary and during
this visit I realized this because she is a Mother who cultivates the dreams of
her sons and daughters, who guards their expectations and brings joy to their
homes’, the Pontiff also said.

Pope Francis also paid a visit to
the Holy Virgin Mary Queen Cathedral and blessed 800 children, old and sick
people and prayed together with those present for young people and families.
Roughly 150 thousand pilgrims attended the ceremonies but the most important
moment of the Pope’s visit was the beatification of the seven Eastern Catholic
bishops martyred by the Communist regime.

Pope Francis: We have in
mind the seven Greek Catholic bishops, whom we’ve had the joy of proclaiming
Happy now. They proved their faith and exemplary love for their people during
the fierce persecution of the regime. With great courage and inner strength
they endured tough detention conditions and other cruel abuses and refused to give
up their faith and belonging to their beloved church. These martyr priests have
regained and left a precious heritage to the Romanian people, which we can sum
up in two words: freedom and mercy.

In Blaj, central Romania, Pope
Francis met representatives of the Roma community, whom he asked for
forgiveness for being discriminated against along the centuries. Pope Francis’
visit comes 20 years after the one paid by Pope John Paul ll, the first to a
country with an Orthodox majority.

‘I go back richer, taking with me
places and moments, but mainly faces. Your faces will bring colour to my
memories and will be present in my prayers. I thank you and carry you along!,
the Pontiff went on to say at the end of his visit to Romania.

(translated by bill)

3 June 2019
June 3, 2019

POPE FRANCIS “May Virgin Mary extend her maternal protection to all the citizens of Romania, who throughout history have always placed their trust in her intercession. It is to the Mother of God that I entrust you all, and I pray for her to guide you on the path of faith, Pope Francis posted in Romanian on his Twitter account on Sunday night, after his visit to Romania. The 3-day apostolic and state visit was held under the motto “Lets walk together! Hundreds of thousands attended the public events held on this occasion in Bucharest, Sumuleu Ciuc, Iasi and Blaj.

NATO The opening ceremony of Saber Guardian 2019 multinational exercise took place in Romania today. The exercise is designed to highlight the cohesion, unity and solidarity of the allied and partner states in the defence against any threat, particularly by ensuring quick mobilisation and deployment anywhere in Europe. The joint training sessions in Romania include vehicle road marches, several live fire exercises, air defence artillery training and medical training, all culminating in a river crossing. As many as 7,600 Romanian troops are taking part.

EU Bucharest is hosting, on Monday and Tuesday, an informal meeting of the EU agriculture ministers, as part of the events held under the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU. The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan is also attending the meeting. Research in agriculture and bioeconomy will be one of the main topics of discussion. In the context of negotiations on the multi-annual budget of the Union, Romania, as holder of the rotating presidency of the EU Council, believes the strategic planning of the common agricultural policy has the potential to consolidate the implementation of bioeconomy and to build synergies with agricultural policy and rural development instruments. While in Bucharest today, Phil Hogan is also scheduled to have a meeting with PM Viorica Dancila.

FESTIVAL The 7th edition of Grand Prix Nova International Radio Drama Festival, organised by Radio Romania, begins in Bucharest today. Devoted to innovation in radio, the event brings together professionals from several countries. In this years edition, 41 radio drama productions are competing for the Grand Prize in the 3 sections: drama, shorts and binaural. The latter offers a new type of experience, namely 3D audio. The participating works provide an overview of the global cultural trends and styles in the field of radio work.

VISIT The US President Donald Trump is on a state visit to Britain as of today. The agenda includes meetings with members of the Royal Family and a private lunch with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. The visit marks the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and takes place in the context of the Brexit crisis and of PM Theresa Mays forthcoming resignation. On Tuesday the US President will have meetings with the outgoing PM Theresa May and with business leaders, and on Wednesday he will attend a ceremony in Portsmouth to mark June 6, 1944 when 160,000 British, American, French and other Allied troops landed in Nazi-occupied Normandy in WW2. Donald Trump will then travel to Ireland and France.

TENNIS Number 3 in the world and defending Roland Garros champion Simona Halep is playing today in the French Opens 8th-finals against Iga Swiatek of Poland (104 WTA). If she wins, Simona will be playing the quarter-finals against the winner of the match pitting Amanda Anisimova of the USA (51 WTA) against Aliona Bolsova (137 WTA) of the Republic of Moldova. Also today, in the mens doubles, the Romanian Horia Tecău and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer are taking on Guido Pella/Diego Sebastian Schwartzman of Argentina, in the quarter-finals.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

3 June 2019
May 31, 2019

POPE FRANCIS Pope Francis is on a 3-day state and apostolic visit to Romania, starting today. The visit, whose motto is “Lets Walk Together, takes place 20 years after John Paul II was the first Pope to come to this mostly Orthodox country. The programme in Bucharest today includes meetings with political officials and civil society members, and with the leaders of the Romanian Orthodox Church. A liturgy will be performed at the St. Joseph Catholic Cathedral. As many as 50,000 believers will be present, in and around the cathedral, and 15 screens will be mounted in Bucharest streets for people to be able to watch the ceremony, performed by the Pope in Latin. On Saturday, Pope Francis will be in Şumuleu Ciuc, in a part of Transylvania mostly inhabited by Hungarian Roman Catholics, and in Iasi, in the north-east, a city that is home to a sizeable Romanian Catholic community. On Sunday, His Holiness will travel to Blaj, in central Transylvania, the spiritual capital of Romanian Greek Catholics, where he will beatify 7 Greek Catholic bishops who died for their faith during the communist regime. The Romanian Greek Catholic Church was outlawed and deprived of its assets shortly after the communists seized power, and many clerics and believers were imprisoned. Also in Blaj, the Pope will have a meeting with members of the local Roma community. The visit entailed high-level security measures in the capital city Bucharest, where road traffic restrictions have been introduced and all schools have suspended todays classes.

FILM Cluj-Napoca in north-western Romania is hosting, starting today until June 8, the 18th edition of the Transylvania International Film Festival. Running in the TIFF official competition are 12 productions, but more than 200 films will be screened as part of the Festival. This years edition celebrates 3 major film industries: the French, Chinese and Albanian. Romanian filmmakers are also well represented, with over 40 productions. Actor Nicolas Cage will receive an award for his contribution to the development of world cinema.

EU European Union member states spent in 2016 more than 350 billion euros (2.4% of the Unions GDP) on families and children, accounting for 9% of the total social protection spending, according to data made public on Friday by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat). The lowest annual expenditure for family and child protection, below 200 euro/capita, was reported in Romania and Bulgaria (120 euro each), Lithuania (150 euro) and Greece (170 euro), and the highest in Luxemburg (3,000 euro/capita), Denmark (1,700 euro), Sweden (1,400 euro), Germany and Finland (1,200 euro). The Eurostat data were made public ahead of the International Childrens Day, celebrated around the world on June 1.

ARRESTS Four Romanian and 2 Bulgarian citizens are being investigated for migrant smuggling and for forming an organised crime group, after being apprehended by the Calafat Border Police in south-western Romania trying to cross the Danube on a boat with 7 Iranian citizens attempting to enter Romania illegally. The Border Police Inspectorate General announced on Friday that the 4 Romanians said they were helping the group travel to the west of the country, from where they could get into a Schengen country. The police also said that under a Romanian-Bulgarian protocol, the 7 Iranian citizens were handed over to the Bulgarian border authorities.

TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, the defending Roland Garros champion and seed no. 3, qualified on Thursday into the tournaments 3rd round, after defeating Magda Linette of Poland in 3 sets. In the next stage, Halep will play against the winner of the match between Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia and Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. The game was suspended on Thursday for light. Irina Begu is the other Romanian player qualified in the Roland Garros singles 3rd round. She will take on Amanda Anisimova (USA).

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

31 May 2019
Pope Francis in Romania

For 3 days, in May 1999, Bucharest was the centre of the Christian world. This is when Pope John Paul II came to Romania, the first Slavic Pope to visit for the first time a mostly Orthodox country. “By the grace of God, after the winter of communist domination, the spring of hope has come, John Paul II said in Bucharest.

Twenty years on, another Sovereign Pontiff is making an apostolic visit to Romania. Between May 31st and June 2nd, Pope Francis will travel to all of present-day Romanias provinces, Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, will have meetings with public officials, Orthodox Church leaders and regular people. Here is Romanias ambassador to the Holy See, Prof. Liviu-Petru Zapartan:

Liviu-Petru Zapartan: “It will be a historic visit without any doubt. It follows another visit, by Pope John Paul II, which is remembered with a lot of love after 20 years. I am certain that it will come with a call to preserve our national identity, our unity as a European nation. Then there are the strong ties between Romanians and Rome, and this has to do not only with our Latin roots, with the neo-Latin language that we speak today, but also with the strong spiritual connections that Romanians have always had with Italy and the Vatican. I would mention the example of the Transylvanian School, the cultural movement that was largely the creation of the Greek-Catholic Church. This movement, emerging in the 1700, promoted the identity of the Romanian language, of our neo-Latin culture, and was the catalyst of our national consciousness, which in turn gave rise to political action among the Romanians in Transylvania aimed at the union with Romania.

In Bucharest, Pope Francis will meet on Friday with top-level public officials and the Orthodox Church Synod, will pray in the new Orthodox cathedral and will perform a mass at the St. Joseph Catholic Cathedral.

On Saturday, the Pope will travel to the Marian Shrine in Sumuleu-Ciuc, in eastern Transylvania, a region inhabited mostly by ethnic Hungarians. The second day of the visit will end in Iasi, in the north-east, home to a sizeable Catholic community. Pope Francis will visit the local Roman Catholic Cathedral and will have talks with young people and families. Roman-Catholic Bishop Petru Gherghel sees the Supreme Pontiffs presence in Iasi as the fulfilment of a dream of both the Catholic Romanians in Moldavia, and of Pope John Paul II:

Petru Gherghel: “We have known His Holiness for some time, we have seen how he welcomes everybody, how he turns to all the families in the diaspora or to emigrants. What His Holiness does translates perfectly into the motto of this visit, ‘Lets walk together, which means lets cultivate this culture of dialogue, of closeness.

On Sunday, the last day of the visit, Pope Francis will be in Blaj, the Greek-Catholic heart of Transylvania, to lead a ceremony beatifying 7 Romanian Greek-Catholic bishops who died for their faith during the communist era. Tens of thousands of believers will attend a Byzantine liturgy in Romanian, presided over by Pope Francis, who will nonetheless perform in Latin. The decision for the beatification service to be performed by the Pope himself is a proof of appreciation for the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, deprived of its assets and dismantled by the communist regime. Here is the Auxiliary Bishop of Blaj, Claudiu Pop:

Claudiu Pop: “The beatification of the Greek-Catholic bishops, undertaken by Pope Francis personally, is an extraordinary gesture, following the example of His Holiness John Paul II, who was very close to the persecuted churches in Eastern Europe. He was personally aware of and familiar with the situation, which is why we always felt this outstanding warm-heartedness coming from him. We feel the same kind of warm-heartedness from Pope Francis, although in a different context; when we talk about his visit to Romania, the invitation to Blaj and beatification, he said simply, ‘I will come and do this.

Another highlight of the visit is on Sunday, also in Blaj, when Pope Francis has a meeting with members of the Roma community.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

30 May 2019
May 27, 2019 UPDATE

SENTENCE The former head of the ruling coalition in Bucharest, Liviu Dragnea, was imprisoned on Monday night, after having been sentenced by the supreme court to prison for corruption offences. Dragnea will be quarantined for 21 days, during which he will undergo physical and psychological check-ups, and his prison activities will be decided. The head of the Social Democratic Party in power and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Dragnea was sentenced on Monday to 3 and a half years behind bars for inciting abuse of office. The prosecution proved that while he was the president of the Teleorman County Council, Dragnea had 2 social assistance workers illegally employed with the Teleorman Child Protection Service, although in fact they were working for the local branch of the Social Democratic Party. Liviu Dragnea had also received a suspended sentence for election fraud, involving the 2012 referendum for the impeachment of ex president Traian Basescu. The Social Democrats executive president, PM Viorica Dancila, announced she will be the interim party president until a special congress is held. The Chamber of Deputies will also elect a new speaker.

ELECTION Sundays election in Romania sends to the European Parliament representatives from 6 political parties, according to the results announced by the Central Electoral Bureau after most votes have been counted. The National Liberal Party, the largest in the right-of-centre opposition, got the most votes, 26.35%, followed by the Social Democrats in power with 23.16%, and the Alliance 2020 USR – PLUS with 21.24%. Three other Romanian parties will be represented in the EP: PRO România – 6.7%, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the Peoples Movement Party with around 5.5% each. Seven other parties that took part in the election were below the 5% threshold. In the diaspora, many Romanians queued for hours to be able to cast their ballots. According to Radio Romanias correspondents in Rome, Madrid and London, people complained about the poor organisation of the vote. The Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu issued a news release apologizing for the problems and saying he ordered an investigation in the countries in question. He also ordered the Foreign Ministry to run an immediate analysis to identify solutions and legislative measures for the development of a voting system adapted to the needs of the Romanian communities abroad. The turnout at the EP election was a record-breaking 49%. On the same day as the EP election, Romanians also voted in a referendum on the judiciary, initiated by President Klaus Iohannis. Over 80% of those who voted in the referendum answered “yes. The referendum turnover was over 41%, above the 30% minimum threashold for the vote to be validated. President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that Romanians had cast a pro-Europe vote, in a country where thieves and criminals belong in prison, and once again criticised the organisation of the ballot in the diaspora.

COUNCIL President of Romania Klaus Iohannis takes part on Tuesday in an informal meeting of the European Council in Brussels. The main topic will be an analysis of the results of the elections for the European Parliament, held between May 23rd and 26th. The EU leaders will also have a preliminary discussion on the candidates for the top posts in EU institutions.

UNIVERSITIES Until May 31st, 24 Romanian universities are presenting their educational offer in Washington, at the annual NAFSA conference and exhibition, the most prestigious in the world in this field, the Romanian Council of Rectors has announced. The conference brings together more than 10,000 participants and 3,500 universities from over 100 countries. “Romania offers a high-quality, adequate and safe learning environment as well as European-standard campus facilities, for more competitive costs than other European countries, reads a news release issued by the Romanian Council of Rectors.

POPE Online registration for attendance of the religious services held by Pope Francis in Romania continue until Friday. Hundreds of thousands of people have already registered. Besides Romanians, Christians from neighboring countries such as Hungary, Serbia and Ukraine but also from far away countries like Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Australia and Israel will come to Romania for the Popes visit. Pope Francis makes a three-day apostolic visit to Romania from the 31st of May to the 2nd of June following an invitation from President Klaus Iohannis and the Catholic Church in Romania. The motto of the visit is “Lets walk together. The pontiff will travel to the capital Bucharest, to Iasi, the biggest city in the east of the country and home to a sizeable Roman-Catholic community, to Blaj, in the centre, the spiritual capital of the Romanian Greek-Catholics and to the Marian shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, in the centre, in an area with a majority ethnic Hungarian population.

EU The Council of the European Union Monday adopted a negotiating mandate allowing the Commission to take part in multilateral negotiations on electronic commerce. “The digitalisation of our economy has fundamentally changed the way businesses and consumers do trade. It was high time for international rules to reflect this transformation. The EU is committed to working with its WTO partners to put in place an ambitious and pragmatic framework that will guarantee a safe and predictable environment for online trade, said the Romanian Minister for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship Ştefan-Radu Oprea, who chaired the formal meeting of the Foreign Affairs (Trade) Council, as part of Romanias presidency of the Council of the EU.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

27 May 2019
May 22, 2019 UPDATE

EP ELECTIONS – In Romania, the campaign for the European elections due on May 26 continues. As many as 13 political parties are part of it. The candidates running in the elections are former ministers or experienced MEPs, former prime ministers or mayors, popular journalists and even an ex-president. The Romanians living abroad can cast their votes at 114 polling stations, most of them in Italy, Spain and the Republic of Moldova. A referendum on justice called by President Klaus Iohannis takes place at the same time with the European elections. The head of state pointed out on Wednesday that Romanians must not be afraid to vote for their European Parliament representatives and in the referendum, and once again urged them to come to polling stations on May 26.

BLACK SEA Funds and financing systems for the “blue economy, investments in ecoports and smart connectivity for transport systems were among the topics approached on the first day of the Black Sea Investment Forum, hosted on May 22 and 23 by the Black Sea coast city of Constanta and organized by the Romanian Transport Ministry and the European Commission. Over 200 participants are looking at the future of regional transport businesses. The event is designed to support and encourage investments and the improvement of the EU business environment by removing barriers to investment and promoting sustainable funding. The Forum aims at facilitating connections between entrepreneurs and top-level authorities in the region, as well as between institutions or companies from EU member states and European and international financial institutions.

OECD 42 members and partners of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) adopted in Paris on May 22 the Principles on Artificial Intelligence. The 36 OECD members and 6 partner countries, including Romania and 5 south-American countries, committed to comply with international standards promoting artificial intelligence (AI) that is innovative and trustworthy and that respects human rights and democratic values. The topic of the OECD Council Meeting held this week in Paris is “The digital revolution in service of sustainable development: opportunities and challenges. Taking part are the foreign, finance and economy ministers of the 36 member countries. Romania, which is not a member, takes part as a guest country and is represented by the Communications Minister Alexandru Petrescu. He said in Paris that Romania is currently drawing up its first national AI strategy, which will be posted for public debate by the end of the year.

POPE – Online applications for attendance at the religious services held by Pope Francis in Romania will continue until May 31. Hundreds of thousands of people have already registered. Besides Romanians, Christians from neighboring countries such as Hungary, Serbia and Ukraine, but also from far away countries like Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Australia and Israel, will come to Romania for the Popes visit. Pope Francis makes a three-day apostolic visit to Romania from the 31st of May to the 2nd of June following an invitation from President Klaus Iohannis and the Catholic Church in Romania. The motto of the visit is “Lets walk together. The Pontiff will travel to the capital Bucharest, Iasi, the biggest city in the east of the country and home to a sizeable Roman-Catholic community, Blaj, in the centre, the spiritual capital of the Romanian Greek-Catholics and the Marian shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, in the centre, in an area with a majority ethnic Hungarian population.

CULTURE The Romanian Culture Minister, Valer-Daniel Breaz, will chair on Thursday in Brussels the Culture and Audio-Visual section of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council, which is scheduled to adopt 2 sets of political guidelines on supporting youth creativity and European co-productions. The Council will also discuss new prospective measures to fight disinformation and to regain the confidence of European citizens in the mass media. On Wednesday night, the Romanian official and the European Commissioner Tibor Navracsics announced the winners of the EU Prize for Literature.

BREXIT – The British government approved PM Theresa Mays plan on Brexit, including the compromise measures that are to be included in the law that is to be voted on early next month. The draft law includes the idea of a temporary customs union until future general elections are held as well as measures to guarantee EU workers rights and to protect the environment. The passing of the Brexit law by the House of Commons is an almost impossible mission for the government, even though the measures proposed might persuade some of the Labour MPs to vote for it, newspapers write.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

22 May 2019
May 7, 2019

MESSAGE The European Council president Donald Tusk on Monday proposed the Union
leaders to adopt a joint statement for the summit on May 9th in
Sibiu, which should convey a message of unity and trust. The president of the
European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker is also to arrive in Romania and
participate together with Romanian president Klaus Iohannis in a round of
debates on Europe’s future. The event is also to be attended by 300 young
people from the member countries. In another development Bucharest has hosted
an international conference on ‘Children’s participation in decision-making
processes at the EU level’. The conference brings together hundreds of
children, experts in children rights, high EU officials as well as civil
society representatives from member countries.

LABOUR Authorities in Bucharest have cautioned the Romanians looking for
employment abroad to get information about their future jobs beforehand in
order to avoid being swindled, abducted or inhumane working conditions. According
to official sources, human trafficking has dropped significantly in the past
year due to a series of campaigns run at national level. In spite of all these
measures, the risks are still high and authorities are recommending the
Romanians seeking employment abroad to avoid signing work contracts, which
haven’t been translated into Romanian, to avoid job offers that sound too good
to be true and to keep contact with the Romanian embassy in the country they
are working in.

TENNIS Two Romanians are today playing in the second round of the tennis
tournament in Madrid. Third-seeded Simona Halep will be playing British
challenger Johanna Konta, while Sorana Carstea takes on Caroline Garcia of
France. Simona Halep won the tournament in Madrid twice, in 2016 and 2017. In
the double contest on Monday, Romanian Horia Tecau and his Dutch partner Jean
Julien Rojer managed a dramatic win against the all-US pair made up of Bob
Bryan and Mike Bryan whom they beat 4-6, 7-6, 12-10. Tecau and Rojer won the
title in Madrid in 2016. An all-Romanian pair, Simona Halep – Irina Begu, has
qualified for the round of sixteen after a 6-2, 6-3 win against the
Romanian-Croatian pair made up of Raluca Olaru and Darija Jurak. Halep and Begu
will be next up against Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech
Republic.

VISIT Pope Francis has today arrived in
Skopje, North Macedonia, as part of a Balkans tour, which also took him to
Bulgaria. The Pontiff has blessed the efforts of North Macedonia and other countries
in the Balkans to join the European Union. Pope Francis has also paid homage at
the monument of the most famous Catholic woman, Mother Teresa, who was born in
Skopje. The Pope has also held a mass for the small Catholic community in North
Macedonia. During his visit to Bulgaria, the Pontiff touched upon the sensitive
issue of migration, as almost half of Bulgaria’s working population has left
this country. The Pope has also addressed the issue of refugees making an
appeal that a door should be left open for these people.

(translated by bill)

7 May 2019
The Week in Review: April 28-May 4

The Romanian Prime Minister visits Poland

On Wednesday and Thursday, the
Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila was on a visit to Poland. On the first
day, she attended in Warsaw a meeting of the heads of government of the
countries that have joined the EU after 2004. Romania is and will continue to
be a supporter of the European project based on convergence, cohesion and
solidarity among the member states, said Prime Minister Dancila, also stressing
that cooperation is needed, without any tension between the East and the West,
between big and smaller countries, for the EU to function efficiently. To
Romania, joining and integrating into the EU meant development, modernisation,
economic growth and a visible improvement of the quality of citizens’ lives,
Viorica Dancila also stressed. She gave assurances that the European project
will keep on having Romania as an active partner.

On Thursday, the second day of her
visit to Poland, the Romanian Prime Minister joined the thousands of people who
took part in the so-called March of the Living, a symbolic event meant to honour the six
million victims of the Holocaust. The participants marched along the 3 km that
separate the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. Before the
start of the march, the Romanian Prime Minister made an appeal to the younger
generations, asking them to combat any form of extremism, intolerance, racism
and anti-Semitism, by strengthening their own education. In her opinion, the
tragic events that occurred during WWII should never be repeated, and the means
to combat anti-Semitism must be identified, for everybody to benefit from a
democratic future.

Extreme weather in Romania

Extreme weather phenomena have created
lots of problems this week, especially in the south of the country. The
problems started on Tuesday evening, when eight counties and the capital
Bucharest were affected by storms and heavy rain. More than one thousand fire-fighters
helped the local population and authorities, evacuating the water accumulated
in basements and removing the trees and utility poles felled down by the storm.
In the county of Calarasi, in the south, an average-size tornado, a phenomenon
which is extremely rare in Romania, uprooted trees and damaged dozens of
houses. It forced a bus off the road and overturned it in a nearby field. 39
people were in great danger, but, fortunately, nobody died, although 12 were
hurt.

For Wednesday, May 1st,
weather experts issued a code yellow warning for strong wind in 18 counties in
the south and in Bucharest. Also, notifications were issued all across the
country, warning of bad weather in most regions. Heavy rain and storms were
reported over extended areas, as well as damaging wind and even hail. Another
two warnings for flood were issued for 21 counties in the north and west. Then,
on Thursday, a severe hail storm, quite unlikely to occur during this time of the
year, took by surprise drivers on Motorway 2, known as the Sun Motorway, which
links Bucharest to the Romanian Black Sea Coast. Authorities have promised that
the population will be warned about severe weather events by means of the
RO-ALERT system, which can be used as an app on smart phones, based on
information provided by meteorologists and 112 calls made by citizens.

Preparations for Pope Francis’ visit to Romania

The registration deadline for those
who want to take part in the mass performed by Pope Francis at the St. Josef
Roman Catholic Cathedral in Bucharest has been extended to May 15. The
announcement was made this week by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, which said
that around 40,000 people will have access to the area around the cathedral in
the Romanian capital city. As many as 15 screens have been mounted, as well as
2 stages for a religious artistic performance.

Pope Francis will be on an apostolic
trip to Romania on May 31st to June 2nd. He will visit
Bucharest, the city of Iasi, the largest in the east of the country and home to
a sizable Roman Catholic community, Blaj, a town in the centre of the country
which is the spiritual capital of Romanian Greek Catholics, and where the Pope
will beatify 7 bishops killed in communist prisons, as well as the Marian
shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, also in the centre, in a region with mostly Hungarian
population.

Hundreds of thousands of people,
including many foreign believers, have registered online to take part in the
masses that Pope Francis will be celebrating. He is the second Pontiff to visit
Romania, the first country with a majority Orthodox population to have ever
been visited by a Catholic Pope (John Paul II in 1999).

Easter holidays in Romania

Last Sunday’s Orthodox Easter was
followed by the International Workers’ Day, making it a good opportunity for
many Romanians to take a mini-holiday. A lot of them chose to go to the
Romanian Black Sea coast, where the summer season was officially opened on May
1. Festivals, car races and concerts were organised on this occasion. The
busiest resorts were, just like in previous years, Mamaia and Vama Veche. Other
destinations for the mini holiday were the mountain resorts in the Southern
Carpathians, the Danube Delta and the rural regions of Maramures, in the
north-west. Interior Ministry staff were mobilised in particular in the places
where major public events were held. Ambulance and firefighter units were also
on duty, to prevent incidents. And while most Romanians chose to spend their holiday
in the country, a large number of them went instead to Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey
and Egypt.

4 May 2019
April 30, 2019

ELECTIONS – The campaign for European Parliament elections, scheduled for May 26, continues in Romania. 13 political groups are in the running: governing ruling coalition members Social Democrats and the Alliance Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, which has a collaboration protocol with the coalition. From the parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition, in the running are the National Liberal Party, the USR-PLUS Alliance, the National Popular Party, Pro Romania, a Social Democratic splinter. From outside Parliament, in the running are the UNPR, the National Unity Bloc, and the United Romania, PRODEMO, the Romanian Socialist, and the Independent Social Democratic parties. Three independents have also declared their candidacy. Romania will send 33 EuroMPs to Parliament. The 33rd MP can only take office after the Brexit comes into effect. Romanians abroad can go to 441 polling stations, most of them in Italy, Spain, and neighboring Moldova. On that same day, Romanians are called to vote in a justice referendum called by President Klaus Iohannis.

JUSTICE — Deputy Prime Minister and interim Minister of Justice Ana Birchall suspended on Monday the procedures to select a new General Prosecutor in Romania, as well as that for selecting the deputy prosecutor with Eurojust, the agency dealing with criminal cooperation between EU member states. She said that the procedures will resume soon. On April 10, the Justice Minister announced new procedures for selecting the General Prosecutor, after Minister Toader turned down all four candidates. According to the law, the minister forwards proposals for general prosecutors, which have to be approved by the Superior Council of Magistracy, and by President Iohannis.

PONTIFF – Hundreds of thousands of Romanians have registered on-line to attend the masses that Pope Francis will officiate in the country. They will be joined by faithful from neighboring Hungary, Serbia, and Ukraine. Also, they are joined by pilgrims from remote countries, such as Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Niger, Madagascar, Australia, Israel, Canada, Namibia, and Reunion. Pope Francis will go on a three day apostolic circuit, starting on May 31. He was invited to the country by President Klaus Iohannis and the local Catholic Church. The Pontiff will visit Iasi, a major city with a significant Roman Catholic population, and Blaj, the spiritual capital of Romanian Greek Catholics. While there, the Pope will beatify seven bishops killed in Communist political prisons. He will also consecrate the Franciscan shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, a majority Hungarian locality. In 1999, Romania was the first majority Orthodox country in history to be visited by a Pontiff, Pope John Paul II.

HOLIDAY – Many Romanians continue their mini-holiday between Easter celebrations and the May Day holiday. The Christian faithful continue Easter celebrations, in their third day. At the Romanian seaside, 250 police officers have been mobilized. Dozens of regional transportation police are keeping watch in railway stations in Constanta County, where most resorts are. According to the Border Police, over 195,000 Romanian and foreign citizens have crossed the border in the last 24 hours, using around 48,000 vehicles.

TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Ana Bogdan, 132nd seeded, qualified in the eighth finals in the WTA tournament in Rabat, Morocco, with a quarter million dollar total prize money, after defeating French player Alize Cornet, 54th seeded, 6-3, 6-3. This is her most important victory this year, and she moves on to play British Johanna Konta, 47th seeded, and Chinese Yafan Wang, 56th seeded. Ana Bogdan is also scheduled to play in the doubles in Rabat, alongside Bulgarian Isabela Shinikova, facing off against the Romanian/ Swiss pair Andreea Mitu/ Timea Bacsinszky.

LIGHTING — Exactly 162 years ago, Bucharest introduced public lighting using kerosene lamps. On 30 April, 1857, the Romanian capital became the first city in the world with such lighting. According to historians, the kerosene was made in the first industrial refinery, the Gas Factory in Ploiesti. 14 years later, in 1871, Bucharest had over 785 kerosene lamps. In early 20th century, the city had over 3,000 kerosene lamps, 990 mineral oil lamps, 400 natural gas lamps, and 200 electric lamps.

30 April 2019
Pope’s visit to Romania

There are many
voices saying the Pope’s upcoming visit to Romania is a historic event. Let’s
not forget, though, that the extremely charismatic Sovereign Pontiff Saint John
Paul II visited Romania in 1999, being the first head of the Catholic Church to
ever set foot in a predominantly Orthodox country after the Great Schism of
1054.

Back then, the
Pope called Romania ‘The Garden of Virgin Mary’. Pope Francis’ apostolic visit
to Romania, between May 31st and June 2nd, with legs in
Bucharest, Iasi, Sumuleu-Ciuc and Blaj, will take place under the motto ‘Let’s walk
together’, which is a reference to the same expression used by Pope John Paul
II.

God’s people in
Romania live under the protection of Virgin Mary, Catholic prelates explain. During
his visit, Pope Francis will invite all to unite under the protective cloak of
Virgin Mary. He will plead for gathering all forces together, strengthening
faith and giving priority to the common good.

The Romanian
President Klaus Iohannis is expected to welcome Pope Francis on May 31st,
at 11.30 a.m., at the ‘Henri Coanda’ International Airport, and the official
welcoming ceremony at the Cotroceni Palace, the headquarters of the Romanian
presidency, is scheduled to take place half an hour later.

The program also
includes private meetings as well as a meeting with Prime Minister Viorica
Dancila and other officials, representatives of civil society and of the diplomatic
corp. The head of state will give a statement, and the Pope a speech. Also on
May 31st, the Pope will have a private meeting with the Patriarch of
the Romanian Orthodox Church, Daniel, as well as with the Permanent Synod of
the Romanian Orthodox Church, at the Patriarchy Palace in the Romanian capital.

The Pope will
visit the National Cathedral, which is currently under construction, where
speeches will be given and Easter songs performed, followed by the Lord’s
Prayer. Then, the Pope will hold a mass at the ‘Saint Joseph’ Catholic
Cathedral. On June 1st, Pope Francis will be traveling to
Transylvania, to the Marian Sanctuary in Sumuleu – Ciuc, which hosts every year
the largest Pentecost pilgrimage in Central and Eastern Europe.

He will then go
to Iasi, in the north-east, where he will visit the ‘Saint Mary the Queen’
Cathedral and attend a meeting with young people and families at the Culture
Palace, where he will also give a speech.

On the last day
of his visit to Romania, on June 2nd, the head of the Catholic
Church will attend the Divine Liturgy on the Freedom Field in Blaj, in central
Romania, where seven Greek-Catholic martyr bishops, killed between 1950-1970 in
communist prisons, will be beatified. The visit to Romania of Pope Francis will
end on June 2nd, at 5.30 p.m. with an official ceremony at the Sibiu
International Airport.

26 March 2019
March 25, 2019 UPDATE

VISIT King Abdullah ll of Jordan has cancelled his three-day visit to
Romania, which was supposed to start on Monday after Romanian Prime Minister
Viorica Dancila announced Bucharest’s intention to move its embassy from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem. The head of the Romanian state Klaus Iohannis has said the
move will take place only after the completion of a study, which is presently
underway and hasn’t been submitted to the Romanian presidency yet. A final
decision on this matter belongs to the Romanian president, who, under the
Constitution, is entitled to any foreign policy decision, being also Romania’s
representative at international level, says a communiqué issued by the Romanian
presidency. The EU is keeping its position concerning Jerusalem, adding that the
only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine involves
the existence of two states with the same capital. European officials on Monday
said the community executive had been notified about the Romanian Prime
Minister’s statement over the intention to move the country’s embassy to
Jerusalem as well as the statement of the Romanian president who said the final
decision on the issue belonged to him. In October 2018, the Romanian Foreign
Ministry submitted to the government a study over the effects of moving the
country’s embassy to Jerusalem. The idea was first launched by the strongman of
the ruling coalition in Bucharest, Social-Democrat Liviu Dragnea in late 2017. In
response, the Palestinian Authority has provisionally recalled its ambassador
in Bucharest.

COMMISSIONER The European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis
Andriukaitis will be paying a formal visit to Bucharest over March 26th
and 27th, the European Commission’s Representation in Bucharest has announced.
On Tuesday Andriukaitis will be delivering a speech on Tobacco control,
sustainable development and the right to health and will be attending a round
of Q & A discussions. The European Official will be received by Romanian
president Klaus Iohannis, Agriculture Minister Petre Daea and the Minister of
Healthcare Sorina Pintea. On Wednesday, the European official is to attend the
opening of the fourth annual conference on tobacco control staged by the
European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention jointly with the Romanian
Society of Pneumology.

POPE
The apostolic visit to Romania by Pope Francis will be taking place over May 31st
and June 2nd during which he will be visiting Bucharest, Sumuleu
Ciuc in the centre of Romania, Iasi in the north-east and Blaj also in central
Romania, the presidential administration announced on Monday. According to the
same sources, the Pontiff and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis will be having
talks on May 31st, followed by a meeting with the authorities, civil
society and the diplomatic corps. The Pope is also to see the head of the
Romanian Orthodox Church, patriarch Daniel in Bucharest. The Pope’s visit comes
upon the invitation of the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis. This is the
second visit paid to Romania, a country with an Orthodox majority, by a
Pontiff, after that of Pope John Paul II in 1999.

(translated by
bill)

25 March 2019
Romanian clergymen beatified by the Vatican

On Tuesday, Pope Francis signed a decree on the beatification of the
7 Romanian Greek-Catholic bishops who sacrificed their lives for faith.
According to the official website of the Holy See, they are Valeriu Traian
Frentiu, Vasile Aftenie, Ioan Suciu, Tit Liviu Chinezu, Ioan Balan, Alexandru
Rusu and Iuliu Hossu. All of them died in communist prisons or under strict
political police surveillance between 1950 and 1970, because they refused to
trade their freedom for renouncing their religion. Romania has never
experienced religious wars, Inquisition practices or burnings at the stake.

In
the royal Constitution of 1923, the Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches, both
having made tremendous contributions to the accomplishment of the Great Union of
1918, were defined as national faiths. The Greek Catholic belief was outlawed
by the communist regime shortly after World War II, at the orders and following
the example of the Soviet occupiers, which would not tolerate the spiritual
authority of the Vatican on the believers this side of the Iron Curtain. Just
like in western Ukraine, Romanian Greek Catholicism was prohibited, and its
property either nationalised, or transferred to the Orthodox Church.

My battle is done, yours must go on, Bishop Iuliu Hossu reportedly
said on his deathbed. His faith became legal once again after the
anti-communist revolution of 1989, and the Greek Catholic Church regained some
of its assets. In the latest census, 86.5% of the citizens of Romania declared
their affiliation to the Orthodox faith, only 4.6% declared themselves
Roman-Catholic and less than 1% Greek Catholic.

According to the Greek Catholic Bishop of Cluj, Florin Crihalmeanu,
the beatification ceremony might be performed by Pope Francis himself, in Blaj,
at the famous Field of Liberty, a place of paramount symbolic importance for
the identity of Transylvanian Romanians. This may well be the climax of the
visit His Holiness will pay to Romania between May 31st and June 2nd.
Under the motto Let’s Walk Together, the Pope will visit the capital city
Bucharest, Iasi, the largest city in the east of the country and home to a
sizeable Roman-Catholic community, Blaj in the centre, which is the spiritual
capital of Romanian Greek-Catholics, and the Marian shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, in
the centre of Romania.

According to the Patriarchy spokesman Vasile Banescu, the visit has
been confirmed and it highlights the good relations between the Romanian
Orthodox Church and the Roman-Catholic Church. In 1999, Romania was the first
country with an Orthodox majority ever to be visited by a Sovereign Pontiff.
Invited by the Christian Democrat President Emil Constantinescu and the then
Orthodox Patriarch, Teoctist, John Paul II was received with love and
enthusiasm by hundreds of thousands of Romanians, who, regardless of their
faith, saw him as the most beloved Pope in history and a man who had played a
vital role in the ousting of communist dictatorships.

20 March 2019