The Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR) promotes peace and unity, not protests and division, the Romanian Patriarchate said in a press release on Saturday. The message came in the context of groups of representatives of some political parties stating that they will go to parishes on Sunday to mobilize believers, in order to organize protests and street movements against the decision of the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR), which annulled the presidential elections on Friday.
“The groups of representatives of some political parties have decided to go to parishes tomorrow, Sunday, December 8, 2024, to mobilize the faithful, in order to organize protests and street movements against the Constitutional Court of Romania and other institutions of the Romanian state. In this context, we address an appeal to the parishes and monasteries of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, as well as to the parishes and monasteries of the other dioceses, so that priests, monks and believers do not get involved and do not participate in such actions contrary to both the law and social peace,” the Romanian Patriarchate said in a statement.
“Such incitements can have negative consequences, both on the clergy and on the faithful,” the Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR) message also reads. The Church promotes prayer and peace of mind for the good of society, the Patriarchate emphasizes.
On Saturday, the leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, announced a protest for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at polling stations, following the CCR’s annulment of the elections. On Friday, he initially urged his supporters to “not respond to provocations” and not protest. “Tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 p.m. we will peacefully go to the polling stations with these papers. PEACEFULLY! Sooner or later we will reach free elections!”, George Simion wrote on Facebook. The day before, immediately after the CCR’s decision, the AUR leader had tweeted: “We will not take to the streets, we will not let ourselves be provoked, this system must fall democratically!”
Along with Simion’s message on Saturday, which calls for protest, a petition was also attached that the AUR leader launched to challenge the CCR’s decision. According to a statement sent by the AUR, it is a petition “demanding free elections” that “will reach both the Venice Commission and other European institutions, such as the Council of Europe, OSCE and GRECO.”