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Apostolic Nuncio to Romania corrected PM Dancila's announcement regarding Pope's possible visit to Romania in 2019
PM Viorica Dancila said on Friday, during her visit at the Vatican, that Pope Francis will come to Romania next year. Dancila met with the Pope and told him about the plans of Romanian authorities to increase the country’s presence at the Vatican through academic, cultural and religious initiatives, but also through joint projects designed to protect human rights and ensure religious freedom. She invited Pope Francis in Romania. Pope Francis will come to Romania at the beginning of 2019 confirmed on Friday for Antena 3 premier Viorica Dancila. She also said that the Pope asked her if she has the strength to complete her mandate, and she said “without any doubt.”
The Apostolic Nuncio to Romania Miguel Maury Buendía said that any official announcement regarding a potential visit of the Pope in Romania will be jointly made by the Vatican and the Romanian presidency.
Reacting to the information revealed by the Romanian PM Viorica Dancila during her meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican on Friday that the Supreme Pontiff will pay a visit to Romania next year, the spokesperson of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest, Francis Dobos, said that the announcement of such a visit is simultaneously made by the Holy See and the Romanian Presidency.
In a Facebook post, Dobos explained he had been „asked” by the official legate of Vatican to Romania, Miguel Maury Buendía, to provide clarification for the mass media on this topic, while remarking that the Holy See has made no referral about the future visit of Pope Francis to Romania during the audience granted to PM Viorica Dancila.
”The Pope visit in Romania. The Apostolic Nuncio in Bucharest, H.E. Miguel Maury Buendía, asked me to provide clarification for the press: When the visit by Pope Francis in our country is set, it will be announced simultaneously by the two sides: Vatican State (Holy See) and the Presidency of Romania,” Dobos posted on Facebook.
According to a press release issued by the Vatican after the audience granted by the Pope to the Romanian premier, ”the cordial discussions focused on the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and Romania.”
”The steps taken to enable the cooperation on education have been underlined, while voicing hope that it can be enhanced soon through some opportune agreements. Some current issues have been also referred, among which there is the importance of Concorde inside the Romanian society to seek the common good.
In the end, some perspectives for the future of the European project have been evoked, also in the view of the EU Council Presidency that Romania will assume in the first semester of 2019,” reads the Vatican press release.
The head of the government was on an official visit at the Vatican during May 10-13. The PM also met on Friday with cardinal Pietro Parolin, state secretary of Pope Francis.
President Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday in Blaj when asked about the statement made by premier Viorica Dancila when referring to the visit of the Supreme Pontiff that he did not think ‘ the lady understood what they talked there’.
‘Let me think that the lady did not understand what they talked there. I followed the whole evolution and the official release of Vatican appeared and it said that the discussions were about the EC presidency in the first part of 2019. The lady considered the discussion was about the visit, not the presidency’ Iohannis said, when asked about the statement made by premier Viorica Dancila when referring to the visit of the Supreme Pontiff to Romania.
The head of state added that he had information in this sense but the relation with the Vatican follows certain rules and norms.
‘When the details are cleared, the announcement will be made simultaneously by Vatican and the presidential administration not by other visitors’ the president said.
Last March, president Klaus Iohannis also went to the Vatican.