A Papal Audience

I knelt and took the outstretched hand adorned with the Ring of the Fisherman. I bowed and kissed the ring. The first words Pope Paul VI spoke to me were: “Tell me what happened to the Rumanian Byzantine Rite Church and tell me what happened to Archbishop Russu.” After years of turmoil, pain, and almost unbearable personal loss, my journey was finally over.

The events leading to this papal audience began in August 1944 when my native Rumania was invaded by Soviet troops. The occupying Soviets started methodically eliminating all religious activity in Rumania. On a single night in October 1948 all six bishops of the Rumanian Byzantine Rite Catholic Church were arrested, as well as many priests and all the monks and nuns. Some of the nuns were raped, all were beaten. In silence and prayer they awaited the unknown. Before the year was out, all church activities were forbidden and all church groups disbanded.

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About the Author

Cornel H. Petrassevich

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Religious Persecution

I knelt and took the outstretched hand adorned with the Ring of the Fisherman. I bowed and kissed the ring. The first words Pope Paul VI spoke to me were: “Tell me what happened to the Rumanian Byzantine Rite Church and tell me what happened to Archbishop Russu.” After years of turmoil, pain, and almost unbearable personal loss, my journey was finally over.

The events leading to this papal audience began in August 1944 when my native Rumania was invaded by Soviet troops. The occupying Soviets started methodically eliminating all religious activity in Rumania. On a single night in October 1948 all six bishops of the Rumanian Byzantine Rite Catholic Church were arrested, as well as many priests and all the monks and nuns. Some of the nuns were raped, all were beaten. In silence and prayer they awaited the unknown. Before the year was out, all church activities were forbidden and all church groups disbanded.