SOME ASPECTS OF THE INTEGRATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ALBA IULIA IN THE ROMANIAN ECCLESIAL STRUCTURES IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD
SOME ASPECTS OF THE INTEGRATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ALBA IULIA IN THE ROMANIAN ECCLESIAL STRUCTURES IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD

Summary/Abstract: This paper addresses the changes that took place after World War I in the life of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alba Iulia led by Bishop Gusztáv Károly Mailáth. This was the only new diocese in Romania to retain all the historical territory it had previously held in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, whereas all others that have suffered significant territorial losses. The Roman Catholic Church in Transylvania was largely ethnically Hungarian. The diocese was thus faced with the challenge of integrating in the Romanian ecclesiastical-administrative structures, while preserving its religious and ethnic characteristics. We are witnessing here the beginning of a “diplomatic game” between the Romanian Government, the Holy See and Bishop Mailáth. The issue at stake for the Roman Catholic Church in Transylvania was the preservation of confessional and ethnic identity in a new political framework. The integration culminated with the signing of the Concordat between Romania and the Holy See in 1927, but the road to the completion of this document is marked by many interesting developments, which provide an insight in the challenges of preserving confessional and ethnic identity while accommodating to new political circumstances and redefining the mission of a Catholic Church belonging to an ethnic minority.

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