Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest on Pope Francis visit to Romania: The official announcement is made by the Holy See and the 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.