NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      BUCHAREST (CWNews.com) - Officials of Romania's Orthodox Church said on Monday that final details of Pope John Paul II's visit to the country in May have been finalized.

      "The Vatican accepted the program of the visit which will include only the capital," Orthodox Bishop Mihaita Nifon told state radio. The Vatican and Romanian Catholic bishops had originally wanted to include two other cities with large Catholic populations on the three-day papal visit that begins on May 7, but faced opposition from Orthodox leaders.

      Bishop Nifon said the visit will include Catholic and Orthodox liturgies, meetings with Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist and Catholic bishops, and a meeting with Romanian President Emil Constantinescu and government officials. The Orthodox Church earlier this year ended its long-time opposition to any papal visit, setting up the first visit by a pope to an Orthodox country in centuries.

      Other issues involved in the planning of the visit included ongoing disputes between Catholics, who were suppressed by the Communist government from 1946 until 1991 when Communism fell, and the Orthodox who were given Catholic properties during the Communist reign.