SITUAȚIA CANONICĂ DIN ARHIDIECEZA ROMANO-CATOLICĂ DE BUCUREȘTI (1948-1964)
THE CANONICAL SITUATION IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF BUCHAREST (1948-1964)

Author(s): Marius Oanță
Subject(s): History of Church(es), Recent History (1900 till today), History of Communism, Canon Law / Church Law
Published by: Editura Cetatea de Scaun
Keywords: Archdiocese of Bucharest; Archbishop Alex.-Th. Cisar; canon Traian Jovanelli; priest Francisc Augustin; canonical jurisdiction; sovietization;
Summary/Abstract: This study describes the situation of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest between1948 and 1964. During this period, which can be described as one of extreme persecution for the Catholic Church in Romania, the Catholic clergy had to suffer as a result of their disobedience to the communist regime. Throughout this while, the members of this clerical elite were convicted and sentenced to many years in prison, after the state authorities rejected the Draft Statute for the Latin Rite the Catholic Church and suspended Bishop Alexandru Theodor Cisar. To compensate for the shortcomings of such an approach, the Communist government attempted to overlay an institution with an ephemeral vocation on the institutions of the Church. The “Catholic Action Committee” failed dismally and the “democratic priests” who attempted to create this parallel church were excommunicated. In this climate, the Holy See appointed and consecrated bishops without the recognition of the Romanian state, and continued to exist even after some of its institutions were suppressed. All these issues will be examined in the present study in detail, and the conditions under which the Church of Rome stayed in existence will be explained accordingly.

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