From grudge to opportunity | Message of alien …

Pope Francis yesterday sent a message of encouragement to the Roman Catholic minority in Romania. The Argentine pontiff spent the second day of his trip at a meeting with the minority in the sanctuary of Sumuleu-Ciuc, located in the region of Transylvania (center), then at a mbad for young people in the Romanian city of Lasi.

"Convert present and old grudges into a new opportunity for communion for the country," said the pope at the beginning of Mbad. Then he called for "weaving the future" and insisted that the wealth of a people lies in the mixture of cultures. Francisco officiated mbad in a vast field of the Carpathian mountains before the 100,000 people according to the Vatican figures. Also present were Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and Hungarian President János Ader due to the significant presence of Hungarian Hungarians in Transylvania, which became a Romanian city after the fall of the Hungarian-Hungarian Empire. . From twentieth century.

The former Pope John Paul II was the first pontiff to visit Romania during a trip he had made in 1999 after the fall of the communist regime. However, at that time, Juan Pablo could not leave the capital, Bucharest, to visit Catholics scattered throughout the country, which Francisco did during this trip.

Throughout the Mbad, Francisco emphasized the importance of multiculturalism and coexistence in harmony. "The pilgrimage to the temple represents a people whose wealth is made up of a thousand faces, cultures, languages ​​and traditions," he said, while asking those present not to be robbed by fraternity because "the voices that they feed the division and fragmentation. "From the bottom of Romania, the pope called for a united future, in a country where the Catholic minority has suffered persecution from the communist regime and tensions with the majority Orthodox Church.

After Mbad, the pope offered the sanctuary the "rose of gold", a decoration that the Vatican grants to important Catholic figures. From there, he went by helicopter to Iasi, the capital of the Moldavian region, where he visited the Catholic cathedral and met with young people and families from the region. With the mobile car came to the Palace of Culture in Iasi and at the gates of the building Francisco found a young man who encouraged him. He heard the testimony of one of them, Eduard, a student who publicly lamented that he professes his faith amid "numerous provocations". Francisco responded by illustrating a prophecy. "The monk Galaction Ilie met a holy hermit and asked him when the end of the world would come, to which the sage replied:" When there is no way from neighbor to neighbor ", a- he said, saying, "when people do not like it, it will really be the end of the world." Because without love and without God, no man can live on Earth. "

Francisco arrived Friday in Romania, where he will stay until today to reiterate his willingness to dialogue with the Orthodox, but also to remember the years of communist persecution and show his closeness to the Roma people. Pope Francis was received at the Bucharest airport by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, a pro-European Lutheran confession, who declared himself satisfied with the gathering of Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics in his country. "I pay tribute to the sacrifices of so many sons and daughters of Romania who enrich the countries in which they emigrated by their culture, their idiosyncrasy and their work," said Francisco after his meeting with Iohannis at the presidential palace.