Romanians welcome Pope Francis for three-day visit

Romanians lined Bucharest streets and packed two cathedrals yesterday to welcome Pope Francis, who began a three-day trip to the country with a message of integration for a post-election European Union following nationalist gains.In speeches in the capital, Francis praised the “sacrifices” of Romanian emigrants and urged the faithful to reject “a culture of hate”.Thousands along Bucharest boulevards cheered, waved and took pictures as Francis travelled through by popemobile.Many television channels transmitted his visit live, while screens where put up throughout the city for people to watch the ceremonies.Outside Saint Joseph Catholic Cathedral, where tens of thousands gathered for a mass, people waved flags and also chanted “Viva papa”, or “Long live the pope”.During the three-day visit to the mainly Orthodox country, the 82-year-old is expected to raise issues fuelling nationalism, such as poverty, as well as inter-religious relations.In one of his speeches yesterday, Francis paid homage “to the sacrifices endured by so many sons and daughters of Romania”.Rampant unemployment and poverty have pushed millions to seek better lives abroad and the country still faces major socio-political problems despite joining the EU in 2007.The exodus of Romanians seeking work abroad had led to the “depopulation of many villages”, he said.He also had a private meeting with Orthodox Patriarch Daniel despite their strained relations, and they prayed alongside each other – one in Latin and the other in Romanian.The Pontiff set off from Rome’s Fiumicino airport early yesterday after meeting a group of 15 homeless Romanians who live in Rome.In Bucharest, he was welcomed at the airport by pro-European President Klaus Iohannis and some 200 cheering children, dressed mostly in white and waving flags.After talks with Iohannis, Francis met Romania’s first female Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila.The Pope’s visit follows 20 years after John Paul II received a warm welcome for his perceived role in the fall of Communism.Relations between the Orthodox Church and Romania’s Greek Catholics – who number just 150,000 – have been strained ever since the decades of the communist rule following World War II.The tiny community had its property confiscated and its religious leaders were jailed.But the Greek Catholics resisted, holding secret masses until the dictatorship fell in 1989.The Pontiff will beatify seven bishops who were tortured and died in prison, setting them on the path to sainthood.He will also travel across the country to meet people of diverse faiths and languages, which include 18 officially-recognised minorities.The highlight of the trip is set to be today’s mass at the Sumuleu Ciuc shrine in a predominantly ethnic-Hungarian part of the picturesque Transylvania region.Tens of thousands are expected at the ceremony, which will see Francis present a golden rose at the large wooden replica of the Madonna – a tradition for popes visiting major Marian shrines.Francis’s trip will be an opportunity “to send a message to the many Catholic Hungarians there to keep their hearts, minds and gates open to others”, religious expert Claire Giangrave wrote in the religious news website Cruxnow.“The challenge for the pope is to stress to the Orthodox community that the Church of Rome does not want to ‘Latinise’ it,” said Bishop Pascal Gollnisch, director of the Oeuvre d’Orient French charity, which supports Eastern Churches.“The unity sought is not institutional: the aim is not to bring all Christians together under the Catholic label, but to have everyone recognise each other as Christians,” he told AFP.