US lawmakers call upon Romania to return seized churches

August 19, 2013

A group of 20 US lawmakers is urging the Romanian government to return churches seized after World War II, according to a report in the National Catholic Register.

Following Soviet occupation, Romania became a Communist state, seized Eastern-rite Romanian Catholic churches, and turned them over to the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Communist government, eventually overthrown in 1989, also confiscated many Protestant church buildings.

The lawmakers, led by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), called upon the US State Department to “vigorously engage the Romanian government to end the travesty of justice which it has perpetuated by failing to fully restitute properties illegally confiscated from religious denominations.”

 

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Further information:

• Romania Implored to Return Communist-Seized Churches (National Catholic Register)