The Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR)'s Patriarch Daniel believes that a
possible visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Romania must be prepared
thoroughly, so that it represents a joint proof in the defense and
promotion of Christian values in contemporary Europe, the Romanian
Patriarchy's Press Office and the Inter-religious Relations Sector
informed on Wednesday in a release for Agerpres.
Patriarch Daniel made this statement during his meeting with Romanian
Ambassador to the Vatican, Bogdan Tataru Cazaban, at Patriarch's Palace,
who communicated Pope Benedict XVI's greeting message and presented the
stage of the current diplomatic relations between Romania and the
Vatican.
According to the source, the Romanian Patriarchy and the Roman-Catholic
Church will assess the most appropriate time for the Pope's visit to
Romania, as the visit of the Sovereign Pontiff must be prepared together
with the Romanian State, as the Pope is also the head of the Vatican
State.
On the other hand, during the meeting, the Romanian ambassador to the
Holy See informed briefly about Italian authorities' recognition process
of the religion status of the Romanian Orthodox Bishopric of Italy.
The Patriarch said that Romanian Patriarchy considers the recognition of
the religion status of the Romanian Orthodox Bishopric of Italy to be
natural, given both the big number of Romanian Orthodox believers in
Italy and the support given by the Romanian state to Catholic churches
in Romania.
SIC: ACM/EU