NATIVITY – Most Orthodox believers, Greek Catholics, Roman-Catholics and Protestants in Romania on Monday celebrated one of the greatest feasts of the Christian world, Christmas, the Nativity of our Saviour Jesus Christ. In the morning, Christian believers went to the church for the Christmas mass, and children have gone carolling. In his Christmas message, Daniel, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, called on Orthodox Christians, the majority of the Romanian population, to show generosity to those in need. The patriarch has expressed his affection for the Romanian historical communities in the neighbouring countries, as well as for the Romanians living abroad. In his turn, cardinal Lucian of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church has wished “love, healing and renewal for our people everywhere. Ioan Robu, the Bucharest archbishop of the Roman-Catholic Church expressed hope in Europes chance to redress from a spiritual point of view. We recall that the Orthodox Churches which continue to use the Julian calendar, for instance the majority Orthodox believers in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Georgia, celebrate Christmas on January 7.
CHRISTMAS MESSAGES – “The feast of the Nativity of Jesus is an urge for compassion and solidarity with those who need our support, says Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, in his Christmas message. In turn, PM Mihai Tudose has called on the Romanians to always think to what brings them together. This is the first Christmas without King Michael I, but the Royal House of Romania celebrates the Nativity of Jesus as well as the life and accomplishments of Romanias fourth king, says the Custodian of the Crown, Princess Margareta, in a message to the Romanians. She recalled our entire nations shared grief at the Kings funeral. Romanias sovereign between 1940 and 1947, when he was forced to abdicate and into exile by a puppet communist government installed by the Soviet troops of occupation, Michael I passed away at the age of 96, in Switzerland, on December 5. He was buried on December 16 at Curtea de Arges, the final resting place of Romanian Royals.
POPE – During the traditional Christmas Eve mass, Pope Francis called on Catholic believers not to ignore the difficult situation of millions of migrants, driven away from they lands. Many migrants, the pope said, were forced to leave their homes because of leaders who see no problem in spilling innocent blood. According to good faith, he said, foreigners should be welcomed anywhere in the world. The number of refugees the world over exceeded 22 million people, the last cross-border flow of migrants being reported in Myanmar, where Rohingya Muslims fled their homes for fear of violence.
TOURISTS – Thousands of Romanians spend their winter holidays in the mountains, with the resorts in Prahova Valley being the most sough-after travel destinations. Predeal, Sinaia and Buşteni are almost fully booked. At Balea Lake, in the Fagaras Mountains, the new Ice Hotel, the only of its kind in Romania, was opened on Sunday. Most tourists who have already booked an icy room, are foreigners. Music is the featured theme this year, at the 13th ice hotel built in the Fagaras Mountains, situated at over 2,000 m in altitude. Each of the fifteen rooms has been decorated with snow and ice sculptures featuring Romanian and international music stars.
SAFETY – Some 23,000 policemen, gendarmes and fire-fighters are working on Christmas day, paying special heed to the prevention of severe public order incidents, containing anti-social behaviour, rendering traffic more easy, facilitating legal border crossing and managing emergency situations. Policemen and gendarmes will be present in crowded places, at fairs, trains stations, in resorts as well as in the proximity of the approximately 16,400 places of worship, where Christmas religious ceremonies are organised.
OBITUARY – Romanian scientists pay their last respects to the President of the Romanian Academy, Ionel Valentin Vlad, who passed away, at the age of 74. An expert on lasers and holography, Ionel Valentin Vlad has been a researcher at the National Institute of Research and Development for Laser Physics in Magurele, near Bucharest, where he set up and led the Holography Laboratory. With a career spanning 50 years, Vlad was elected president of the Romanian Academy in 2014.
SPORTS – Danish Helle Thomsen who is coaching both the Dutch national team and Romanias handball champion, CSM Bucharest, and Spanish Ambros Martin, who is coaching Romanias national team and the Hungarian team Gyor, are among the nominees for best international womens handball coach of the year 2017, in an end-of the year poll conducted by the portal Handball-Planet. Thomsen, who took over CSM Bucharest in summer and managed to bring the team to the main groups of the Champions League, got bronze medals with the Dutch team this month, at the World Championship in Germany. Martin only managed to take the national team to the eighth finals of the 2017 World Championship, the Romanian handball players sustaining a surprising defeat from the Czech Republic, but he won the Champions League in spring, with Gyor.
MADRID – Spanish King, Felipe VI, has called on the newly elected members of the Catalan regional parliament, to avoid a new confrontation, after the secessionist attempt in autumn, which divided Catalan society and rocked Spain. In his Christmas message, the King called on the MPs in Barcelona to cope with the problems facing all Catalans, with respect for pluralism and showing responsible thinking for the good of all. The messages comes days after on Thursday, the election in Catalonia were won by pro-independence parties, even though the party which got most votes was Ciudadanos, Liberal, and opposed to Catalonias independence. Against the backdrop of the political crisis, the severest in the past 40 years in Spain, the secessionists led by Carles Puigdemont were sacked on October 27 by the head of the central government, conservative Mariano Rajoy. Earlier that month, they had organised a referendum for Catalonias independence, which was however banned by the Spanish justice.
