Some Remarks on Reformed and Roman Catholic Church Property Restitution in Romania: Results and Problems
Some Remarks on Reformed and Roman Catholic Church Property Restitution in Romania: Results and Problems

Summary/Abstract: In the course of this study, we will analyse the process of nationalization and post-communist restitution of church property in Romania, with a special focus on the immovable property items which once belonged to the Reformed Church and the Roman Catholic Church. We show that nationalization of such assets took place in several waves and quickly resulted in the dispossession of these churches of the means of their educational and charitable activities. We also show that this nationalization was underpinned by a patchwork of legal norms and was carried out with utmost prejudice by the Soviet-type state apparatus. After the regime change of 1989, the Romanian legislative, owing to foreign pressure, half-heartedly endorsed the restitution of some nationalized church properties by several successive norms through a primarily administrative procedure. We demonstrate the shortcomings of this procedure on two examples of church schools, where restitution failed, and in one case even resulted in renationalization. We conclude that the restitution of church property, as devised by the Romanian legislative, is a deeply flawed solution to an ongoing problem.

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