Why do we accept the transparency of public spending for football, but not for a cathedral?
The National Cathedral, October 22, 2025. PHOTO: Inquam Photos / George Călin
Today the Cathedral of the Salvation of the Nation is consecrated, which, in 15 years, spent over 315 million euros of public money, according to journalists from safielumina.ro. How much did the National Arena cost? Around 240 million euros, the amount related to the years 2008-2011, which today would still mean somewhere over 300 million.
Why do we accept the transparency of public spending for football, but the same is not true for a cathedral?
In 2010, i.e. 15 years ago, work began on the Cathedral of the Salvation of the Nation, the largest Orthodox cathedral in the world.
Today the consecration takes place, and around this event, as happens every time when it comes to projects worth hundreds of millions of euros, polemics and controversies have been built.
The cathedral is the second gigantic construction, from a financial perspective, in Bucharest in recent decades. The National Arena, the football stadium inaugurated 14 years ago, was also a grandiose project.
What connects and what separates the two constructions? First of all, it tells us that Romania is a religious country and full of football enthusiasts. But I already knew this.
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