Correspondence from the Vatican. The Romanian priest who served with Pope Francis: “What a beautiful country you have, he told me when he remembered that I am from Romania” / Pope Francis, buried today

Father Isidor Iacovici is, for 20 years, parish in two churches in Rome, where he gathered a community of Romanians. Along with some of them he also arrived in front of Pope Francis, when he was invited to officiate a Liturgy with the Pontative Sovereign. It was the beginning of the pontificate of the Sovereign Pontiff, and the Pope wanted to know the parishes in Rome. In the end, the Pope waited, shook hands and took pictures of them. “When I go home now, I see that the photo then has become a picture on their walls.” Today, Pope Francis is buried, during a ceremony, to which hundreds of thousands of people are expected to be present.

• Father Isidor is the spiritual leader of the community of Romanians in the capital of Italy, where, as he says, he helps them maintain their identity. “Talk how your grain is and behave how your strait is,” he tells them at church.
• The father met several times with Pope Francis, “there were 20 occasions.” “” What a beautiful country you have, “he told me when he remembered that I was from Romania. When he was on the apostolic visit to the country, it rained a lot, so he could not go with the helicopter, as was the plan.” Good luck, I saw the country, by car, “he told me.”
• He knew all the three popes of the modern world: “Each one was for his time. Pope John Paul II could not today, with the walls of fallen communism, bring the same struggle. Pope Benedict was an intellectual, and Pope Francis understood that he had to speak to the powerful of the world about the poor.”

The church “San Vitale is comprible martyrs in Fovea” is located in the center of Rome, for a walk of about 15 minutes from Fontanda di Trevi. At the Liturgy on Thursday, about 16 Romanians were in banks, when Father Isidor Iacovici spoke to them about the Franco-Rus war from the beginning of the 19th century and told them about the peace between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander.

If you want peace, you have to prepare for war, a Latin saying quotes. So, if they want peace of mind, Christians must prepare to cope with all the temptations in this world. On the banks there are exactly 16 Romanians. He sings together and say prayers.

Father Isidor Iacovici has served in this church for over 20 years, since June 2005. The priest has been more than 40 years old, more precisely from June 20, 1984. He served in Rădăuţi, Rădăuţi, Piatra Neamţ, Vizantea, Păjeşti, Paşcani and Iaşi. Since 2004, he has been in Rome.

How to gather the Romanians

There has been a certain Romanian community since 1996 – people who were gathering for jobs. “He was united with great weight,” says the parent. It was the time when 1,500-2,000 euros sent to the country still meant a better life. “They did not leave home, they had no way, because they were losing all the money. So, on Sunday, the church was full at the Holy Mass.”

After joining the European Union and after the money in the country began to be about the same as those in Italy, the church was emptied. But Father Iacovici was not satisfied to let the Romanians come to him, so he took an extra step: “I wanted to find them at home, to see where and how they live.”

He placed a map on the wall and signs in the places with Romanians. “In 20 years, I have made a list of over 550 families, which I visit from January until the end of March. I can go to them only in the evening, from 17.00 to 22.00, when they return from work. 7-8 families a day,” says Father Isidor. In one year, just to go to them, they have to travel 6,000 kilometers.

Who are the Romanians in Rome. To work “at the fix” or “at hours”

Most men work in factories, are electricians, wood or go on the site, says the father. Scaffolding, masonry, plastered, exterior-interior apartments. Others bring Romanian products for nostalgic ones. Some of them have done companies and have works on their own, even if that does them and work more.

Women, almost all, work “in families”. Those present on Thursday, work “at the fix”, that is 24 hours a day with an old man to take care of. They can take a day off, and this is Thursday, to get to work.

Sunday is not all free, but only a part, to reach the liturgy. Other women work “at hours”. I mean, I go to a family for a few hours, then a few hours to another family to cook for another family, to walk with seniors.

“I have to endure a lot for the money I send home.” Father, I have three children in college, “I tell myself. I say:” I go and I do not go back. “And in a few months I see them again. who cared for her out of the house.

Sometimes they organize small trips, to get them out of their tiring routine. He took him to Florence, Bologna or Naples. One lady told her that if she hadn't been, she would never have known how beautiful and rich Italy is.

The Romanian who served with Pope Francis

Father Isidor Iacovici is one of the few Romanians who officiated a job with Pope Francis. It happened even in the beginning period of his pontificate. “He holds the liturgy in the morning at 7:30. He had an excellent idea and said,” I am a bishop in the Diocese of Rome! Shouldn't I know my parishes? “

He says he was skeptical, he thought he would not be interested in the Pope with a Romanian priest, so he was hardly convinced to respond to the request.

But the answer came immediately: the request was approved, the parent is asked to come up with a group of 25 people from the community he is pastor. He brought young students and three families – two who celebrated 25 years of marriage and one who was celebrating 50 years.

When he saw him, Pope Francis called to the altar, to serve together, both spiritual leaders of the community. “The Pope was sitting in the middle, I was sitting on the right, and on the left – a bishop,” Father James recalls.

At the end of the liturgy, the Pope waited for him and shook hands with all the believers and wanted to meet them. “When I go home now, I see that the photo then has become a picture on their walls.”

It was 2014, the year in which the former bishop Anton Durcovi had been beatified, incarcerated and left by the Communists to die of hunger in the Sighet prison. Father James had been the postulator of the Happy Happy Cause, so he brought the portrait of the happy Durcovici, along with a volume about his life. When he offered the gift, the Romanian parish told him immediately: “This is one of the bishops who died in hunger and thirst. Terrible destiny.”

“Advertising “Pope Francis for Romania

“There were about 20 occasions when I met Pope Francis,” says Father Isidor Iacovici.

“” What a beautiful country you have, “he told me when he remembered that I was from Romania. When he was on the apostolic visit to the country, it rained a lot, so he could not go with the helicopter, as was the plan.” Good luck, I saw the country, by car, “he told me.

The old woman in Romania who impressed her on the pope

The father remembers a moment of the apostolic visit of Pope Francis in Iasi: While the multitude of believers were waiting for the Pope, a mother asked an old woman in traditional clothes to keep her child, that the pope bless him. It was Aunt Anica.

Pope Francis stopped and blessed the baby. Then he asked for his image to be printed in several copies, along with a fragment of his word.

“At Donna Piu Famosa del Mondo ”

A few minutes after the meeting with Aunt Anica, when she spoke to the young people from Iasi, Pope Francis said: “I saw an elderly, quite old woman, a grandmother holding her nephew, had about two months. The courage to go and bring it here, before you, “he said, leaving aside the text with the written speech.

Then he added: “That's why I tell you. Grandparents dream of the moment when grandchildren will go to life, and grandchildren have courage when they take their roots from grandparents” – this is the phrase that printed, in 40,000 copies, on the back of the old woman and the baby.

About two years ago, Isidor Iacovici brought the old woman to the Vatican! When he saw her, Pope Francis told her: “Sei at Donna Piu Famosa del Mondo. Pope ti Ha Parto”-(in the trad-you are the most famous woman in the world. Pope spoke to you)

When Pope Francis knelt in front of the crowd

For the public activity of Pope Francis, the Romanian parent has a special appreciation, because they are among those inspired by modesty and marriage predicated and implemented by the Pontiff. He remembers a gesture, the “strongest gesture”, which he did in the Great Lent.

“The Pope invites everyone to confess, to live as the faith is. Pope Francis knelt in public not for the first time. ”

Father Iacovici remembered this word of the Sovereign Pontiff: “Let us not get tired of asking for forgiveness, that God never gets tired to wait for us.”

The head of the universal church

But it is a certain quality of Pope Francis that Father James remembers in particular: the care that Pope Francis had for all the churches. “He has the title of chief of the universal church and has risen to this reputation,” he believes.

And he explains: Pope Francis continued the tradition started by Pope John Paul II and prayed with the leaders of other cults, whether they were Orthodox, Muslim or Jews. “In order not to hate us, and when we meet, let's talk about what unites us, not what separates us.”

A pope for his time

Ever since he served in Rome, Isidor Jacobici has known all three popes of the modern world and understands with each of them has influenced the people and the world.

“Each pope was for his time. Pope John Paul II could not today, with the walls of fallen communism, bring the same struggle. Pope Benedict was an intellectual, he worked a lot from a theological, dogmatic point of view. And Pope Francis, with his past on the peripherals of Buenos Aires, had to speak to the world. Paul, and the mission of Pope Francis to become superfluous, ”says Father Iacovici.

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Pope Francis will be buried today, at the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Dozens of leaders around the world have announced their presence at funerals, including US President Donald Trump. Hotnews presents the event watched by millions of people live.