romania" "
During his meeting with the French Ambassador in Bucharest, Patriarch Teoctist of the Romanian Orthodox Church expressed his concerns about the danger that might be posed to religious freedom in France by the most recent legislative proposals. The Head of the Romanian Orthodox Church received the ambassador Philippe Étienne in his patriarchal residence on 20 January. The reason for the ambassador’s visit was to explain the most recent French legislative proposals on the principle of the lay state. His Beatitude Teoctist recalled, in this connection, the sad experience of the Communist regime, when even religious symbols had been suppressed. The French ambassador assured Patriarch Teoctist that, in the debates that will follow, the French Parliament will take into due account the need to respect the religious freedom of the human person. Étienne also expressed the position of the French government with regard to the reference to the Christian roots of Europe in the preamble to the future European Constitution. For his part, Teoctist recalled that in 2000 the Christian confessions in Romania signed a document in support of the process of their country’s integration in the European Union. Patriarch Teoctist also asked that the Christian foundation of the old continent be explicitly mentioned in the future European Constitution.
