NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      BUCHAREST (CWNews.com) - The Romanian Orthodox Patriarch told an international ecumenical meeting on Tuesday that a visit by Pope John Paul II to the former Communist country would be welcomed.

      Patriarch Teoctist told the state news agency Rompres that he had discussed the possibility of a visit by the Pontiff with several cardinals attending the 12th International Meeting of Peoples and Religion. "The Romanian Orthodox church wants this visit as it is beneficial," the patriarch said. "It must be productive because the Romanian Orthodox Church is linked to the people." He added that a date for the visit was not yet being discussed.

      The Holy Father was officially invited to visit Romanian last July by the Romanian government, while the Orthodox Church initially remained cool to the idea. The country's minority Eastern-rite Catholics have clashed with the majority Orthodox over the return of churches and property seized by the former Communist government and handed over to the Orthodox. Leaders of the Orthodox Church had previously said that no visit should take place while the property dispute remained unsettled.