Pope asked Romanian Catholics to overcome their grudges | Chronic

Pope Francisco he sent a message of encouragement to the Roman Catholic minority, that he encouraged to live his faith, to foster understanding and to convert "current and old grudges" in "new opportunity for communion"For the country, the Argentine pontiff spent the second day of his trip to Romania in search of the Catholic minority of this predominantly orthodox country, a church with which he met on Friday when he arrived.

John Paul II He was the first pope to visit Romania in 1999, exactly twenty years ago, after the fall of the communist regime, but he could not leave the capital Bucharest to visit Catholics scattered throughout the country. Bergoglio has fulfilled this goal, said the agency Efe. .

The day began with a visit to the Sumuleu-Ciuc sanctuary, located in the Transylvania region (center) and one of the most important for the Catholic minority, especially for Hungarian Hungarians. Francisco officiated Mbad in a vast Carpathian meadow and, in his homily, he sent a message of union to the different social and religious identities of the country, in front of the 100,000 or so people who listened to him despite the rain, according to figures of the Holy See.

Among them was the Romanian Prime Minister, Viorica Dancilaand the President of Hungary, János Áder, given the strong presence of Hungarian Hungarians in Transylvania, become Romanian after the disintegration of the Astro-Hungarian empire in the early twentieth century.

Francis reminded them all that the pilgrimage to the temple represents a people "whose richness is its thousand faces, cultures, languages ​​and traditions"and asked not to be left behind"steal fraternity through the voices and wounds that fuel division and fragmentation"."The complex and sad events of the past must not be forgotten or denied, nor can they be an obstacle or a reason to prevent the desired fraternal coexistence."he said.

Francisco said that "Pilgrimage means feeling called and encouraged to walk together, asking the Lord for grace to turn old and present grudges and mistrust into new possibilities of fellowship"