On 9 February 2016, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel received, at the patriarchal residence of Bucharest, Her Excellency Stella Ronner-Grubačić, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Romania on an introductory visit.
Her Excellency thanked for the honour to have been received on an introductory visit and underlined that one of the priorities of her diplomatic mission in Romania was to intensify the cooperation between the two countries, including cultural relations.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel congratulated the new Ambassador of the Netherlands and wished her every success at the beginning of her diplomatic mission in Romania. Then, His Beatitude mentioned that one of the present pastoral and missionary priorities of the Romanian Patriarchate is to provide support for religious life and assistance to the Romanians settled abroad in retaining their identity wherever new Romanian Orthodox eparchies have been set up during the last decade. The Patriarch of Romania appreciated the support that the communities of Romanian Orthodox faithful enjoy abroad from Roman-Catholic and Protestant Churches of Western Europe, who provided them with more than 300 places of worship for their religious services. Given the fact that a substantial number of Romanians is settled abroad, His Beatitude said, new social phenomena appeared, such as the diminishing of the labour force and alarming growth of school abandonment, especially with children left to be taken care of by relatives. In this sense, in order to prevent and combat this phenomenon, the Romanian Patriarchate has unfolded, during the last few years, a programme at national level entitled “Choose the school!”, financed from European - financed project, which included more than 35,000 pupils risking to abandon school.
During the encounter, the theme of the crisis of the migrants in Europe was discussed which, in the opinion of the Dutch ambassador, needs fast solutions involving all the member states of the European Union.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said that in regard to the migrants’ issue, the hospitable attitude based on the values of Christian love and philanthropy must be accompanied by a realistic approach according to the economic potential of each country, in order to avoid the xenophobic manifestations towards those in difficulty because of the armed conflicts and of the persecutions in their native countries. His Beatitude pleaded for greater solidarity, cooperation and co-responsibility among the peoples from the Western and Eastern parts of the European continent in order to solve this humanitarian crisis.
Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate
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