EASTER Orthodox believers who are a majority in Romania, together with
their Greek-Catholic counterparts on Sunday celebrate Easter, the Resurrection
of Lord Jesus Christ, the most important event of Christianity. On Saturday in
Jerusalem, the Greek Patriarch held the Ceremony of the Holy Light, a regular
Orthodox service during which the Patriarch goes out of the Holy Sepulchre and
share light with the believers. A delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church went
to Jerusalem to bring into Romania the Holy Light by means of a charter plane.
At midnight, churches all over Romania saw special services devoted to Christ’s
Resurrection. Roman Catholics and Protestant believers celebrated Easter on
April 21st. In his Easter address, Romanian Patriarch Daniel urges
believers that ‘through good words and deeds they bring joy and light in the
hearts of the orphans, the sick, the needy, the old, to those in mourning and
those alone’. Also ‘we shouldn’t forget the Romanians abroad and pray for them
and their salvation’ the Patriarch went on to say. Florentin Crihalmeanu, the
bishop of the Greek-Catholic eparchy in Cluj, north-western Romania, has
reminded believers that the Christian life is a permanent fight, a beautiful
one, which allows us to celebrate every moment when Christ wins in our life. He
again hailed the visit Pope Francis is going to pay to Romania in a month, when
he is going to beatify the 7 Greek-Catholic martyrs who died in the communist
prisons.
CAMPAIGN An election campaign for the European Parliament, whose elections
are due on May 26th, kicked off in Romania on Saturday. Out of the
13 political groups vying for seats in the European Parliament, there are the
ruling PSD and ALDE, UDMR, the Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, as well
as the opposition PNL, the USR-PLUS alliance, PMP and ProRomania, a group
formed by PSD dissidents. There are also other extra-Parliament parties in this
election race, such as the National Unity Bloc, UNPR and the United Romania
Party, PRODEMO, the Romanian Socialist Party, and the Independent Social
Democratic Party. There are also three independent candidates vying for seats
in the European Parliament. Romania will have 33 members in the future European
Parliament, but under a European Council decision, the 33rd mandate
will commence only after Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc has produced
judicial effects. 441 polling stations have been set up for the Romanians
abroad, most of them in Italy, Spain and the neighboring Republic of Moldova.
Concurrently with the aforementioned elections, the Romanians are expected to
have their say in a referendum on justice, initiated by the country’s president
Klaus Iohannis.
TABLE TENNIS Romanian Ovidiu Ionescu and Spanish Alvaro Robles on Saturday won
the silver medals in the double match of the World Table Tennis Championship in
Budapest Hungary. The two conceded defeat in the finals to Chinese Long Ma and
Chuqin Wang. In another development, the board of the European Table Tennis Federation decided
that Romania host the 2021 edition of the European Table Tennis Team
Championships. Romania hosted the European Cadet and Junior Table Tennis
Championship in 2018.
FREQUENCIES Dear friends,
Radio Romania International has operated new changes into the frequencies of
its transmissions due to come into effect on April 27th. So, the RRI
broadcast at 3:00 UTC to North America, (the West Coast) can be received on the
frequency of 7375 kHz in the analogue system, while our programmes to India are
carried by 13630 kHz in the DRM system.
(translated by bill)