The priest who investigated the secret archive of the Vatican, about Pope Francis: “It could be the first Romanian saints in the calendar of the Catholic Church”

The protopop Cristian Arinel Sabău, the one who investigated from the bark to the Vatican's secret archive to draw up the beatification file of the seven Greek-Catholic bishops, and the priest Teodor Lazăr explains what Pope Francis for Romania meant.

Pope Francis, the first pope who served in Transylvania. Photo: Inquam Photos

The only pontiff who served in Transylvania, Pope Francis officiated, on June 2, 2019, in Blaj, the service of drinking the seven Greek-Catholic bishops persecuted and exterminated by the communist regime. It is a first step in the process of sanctifying the Romanian prelates. When the process reaches the end, the seven bishops can become the first Romanian saints in the calendar of the Catholic Church (to the extent that the other sanctification processes will not be completed before).

“Adevărul” discussed with the protopop Cristian Arinel Sabău-the one who researched for seven years the lives of the seven Greek-Catholic bishops, an occasion with which he analyzed from the bark to the Vatican, but also the archive of the former Securitate, to make the Beatification File-about the contribution of Pope Francis.

Then, the Greek-Catholic priest Teodor Lazăr, the former spiritual of Doina Cornea and one of the most famous priests in Romania for his unconventional approaches, explained to us why he believes that Pope Francis made more than any other Pope, including John Paul II.

The seven bishops martyrs could be the first Romanian saints

The protopop Cristian Arinel Sabău explains in what the help of Pope Francis for the Beatification File of the Greek Catholic bishops:

“He helped in the sense that after we submitted the file, he made a disposition to take care of this cause. There are many causes that are analyzed at the Vatican. I mean, our bishops, if I remember it, were on the ordinary visit – at 5 years the episcopate from all over the world goes to visit the Pope – and among the raised problems were precisely the completion of this cause and precisely for the visit whose details were almost finalized. And they said “let's finish so they could declare them happy even on the occasion of the visit.” And then the file being concluded and handed over to the congregation for the saints, and from the request of the Holy Father, the congregation was dealing with him faster and all the procedures went quickly. When the decree reached the table, he signed the beatification. “

The procedure stipulates that the first time is issued the decree of the congregation for saints, which must be signed by the Holy Father. After that, the official ceremony that is celebrated at the local church from where the respective takes place takes place. Pracitc, in Blaj, during the ceremony officiated by the Pope, the bishops became “happy”.

“Then it is passed to the last phase, to the one of their declaration as saint for the entire Catholic Church. Now for us we pray For our happy martyrs And we are waiting for a miracle, a miracle to pass in the next stage. It takes a miracle, a miracle for this. Following the verification of this miracle, they will be declared holy, and this ceremony will take place in Rome. The cult will expand to the entire Catholic Church. The calendar is passed and then all the churches around the world will mention that day, as we now mention others ”the protopop explained.

Asked if they were the first saints in Romania, Sabău claimed: “If we do not consider Saint Niceta of Remesiana (known as the bishop of the Dacians, he was born in Remesiana, today Bela Palanca, close to Niş-in Serbia, in 338-Nr) the first would be. Respectively, we must have patience, because there are procedures of beatification and of some personalities, which are of personalities, miracle.

There are other figures in the process of canonization: Anton Durcovici, Roman Catholic bishop of Iași, drunk in 2014; Ioan Scheffler-Roman Catholic bishop of Satu Mare, recognized as a martyr; The happy Vladimir Ghika, a martyr priest, drunk in Bucharest in 2013. In none of these cases he has been to sanctify, because the miracle is expected.

After the verification is concluded, and it will be attest that something is super-enemy, for example, a healing or rescue from a limit situation, then the sanctification procedure will be completed.

“The Holy Father has made steps to urgently emerge, if there are no impediments, so the beatification ceremony can be celebrated during his visit to Romania ”concluded the protopop.

Regarding the sanctification of Pope Francis, he said: “I saw that even after the death of him, many people have gathered in Saint Peter Square in the Vatican. The echoes are favorable, now will be made a commission and everything will be investigated. Then to John Paul II, as far as I remember, as soon as the news, people gathered in the market and shouted:” Then the process began quickly. Now, I couldn't know. It's possible ””.

If in the case of Pope Paul II there was a unanimity of positive opinions within the Catholic Church, in the case of Pope Francis the situation is a little more complicated, says the priest, because he also reached some sensitive themes, which attracted the opposition of prelates.

“Pope Francis: Smerenia”

The Greek-Catholic priest Teodor Lazăr, the spiritual of Doina Cornea, asked about the legacy that Pope Francis leaves us, said: “I think the most important thing is that those who will choose the next pope to take into account the profile of the one who will succeed Francis, from a certain perspective, namely, from the perspective of his humility.”

An example of this is the moment when, shortly after being chosen, the Pope declined his skills in certain areas. Said: “I am not theologian”. “Of course it is desirable to be a ratzinger at any time there, a great theologian, but he declined his competence in the Great Theology. He was a humble shepherd, a characteristic of Jesus Christ.”explains the priest.

Humility was, according to him, the great quality of Pope Francis.

“For a man it is impossible to completely cover the figure of Jesus Christ, but something in Jesus must have each one. From what Jesus Christ had, in Pope Francis he highlighted humility. So rather, if I go out to express myself, as a priest of the Catholic Church, I would like the next Pope to have the figure of the present pope from the perspective of humility”, Says Lazar.

He is of the opinion that the Pope managed to be, first of all, a shepherd, a guardian for all and especially for the peripheralized and less a pontifex, as the popes took over at some point the title that the Roman emperors had and which signifies a head of state, ”

“Let us not forget how much he emphasized to be kind to strangers. With vulnerable strangers. Until the last breath, it seems to have fought for this cause, which is a Christian cause. Being a stranger, even Jesus was a stranger among his. When we talk about refugees and the Pope has defended this category, very present in the country, in the last four years. He actually defended something that Jesus Christ lived, our God. Let us not forget that the great refugee was Jesus Christ in the first years of life ”, explains Lazar.

Asked to what extent he thinks Pope Francis will be sanctified, the priest claims he wants this, but probably the procedure will not be as fast and smooth as Pope John Paul II. “Certain positions of Pope Francis have also created adversities in the church, even at the level of bishops or even cardinal. But he remains an example to take on humility. He left a beautiful inheritance and I think that rather than to put in a calendar for sanctification, we want to do what he wanted to do and to do what he wanted to do. humble pastor. ”

“The Church does not fight with sinners, but with sin of sinners.”

Father Lazăr believes that it is important to keep the perspective that Francis gave to the Catholic Church: “A perspective inclusive, not exclusivist. I mean, in the end, he said that everyone takes place in the church. Christ did not come to exclude someone, and right. And that is precisely why he was harshly cataloged by his, because there is, please, the temptation in each nation to believe the belly of the universe, or only through us a work is done, we are the most, that is what Romanians say many times, but it is not. After all, we have a God for all and this is the Pope, even mentioning certain categories that the Church considers to be categories of sin, but showed that not only a certain sin poses problems to the Church, anyway for anyone Christ paid Golgotha. “

What is to be nuanced, says the parent, is the fact that “The Church does not fight with sinners, but with sin of sinners. He said, after all, a great truth that must be a pastoral principle for every priest, bishop, pope, what is God:” We do not remove the sinner outside the Church, but we remove the sin. ” And that we do not do, but God does it. So that's the stake. As the hospital does not intend to remove the patient outside, but to remove the disease from the patient. “

“We owe this pontiff enormously”

Asked if Pope Francis had a special relationship with Romania, given the visit and drinking of the bishops, the priest Teodor Lazăr replied:

“The Greek-Catholic Church in Romania-and not only, and the Roman Catholic and even the Armenian-Catholic one-it owes them enormously and will remain with the greatest debt in relation to a pontiff. What this pope of Rome did not match by any other pope, he was very generous, first of all, recognizing the martyrdom of the seven, but not only to the Visit. much effort.

Not even Pope Paul II arrived in Transylvania to serve.

“This is a great thing and it is what you did – sure of certain reserves that others have had 20 years before – John Paul II. So we owe them enormously, because he is the only pope who visited us in Transylvania, she kept us directly, served us directly through a job at Blaj. And this for us and our history matters enormously. So we owe him enormously to this pontiff”, Concluded Lazar.