Vatican, Romania to Re-Establish Diplomatic Ties Cut 40 Years Ago
The Vatican and Romania have decided to re-establish diplomatic relations after a 40-year break, the Vatican said Monday.
No date was given, but papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro said it will be soon. Romanian officials said in Bucharest that ties will be restored in mid-May.
The fall of the hard-line Communist regimes in Central Europe over the last year has allowed the Vatican to expand its influence in the region. Pope John Paul II’s native Poland, which is predominantly Roman Catholic, restored Vatican ties in July. Hungary did so in February, and Czechoslovakia did so earlier this month.
The Vatican and the Soviet Union have also established official ties for the first time. The ties are short of full diplomatic relations.
The decision on Romania was made during a visit to the country by Archbishop Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s foreign affairs chief. He went to Romania on Thursday, heading a delegation sent to install bishops appointed by the Pope last month.
Relations with Romania were cut off in 1950, the Vatican said.
There are 2.8 million Catholics from the Roman and Eastern rites in Romania, a country of 23 million people, it said.
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