Roman Catholic priest Celestino Dragoi Roma had problems with the Vatican these past months; problems with Moscow, too.
“Sticking with orders of the Vatican took a toll on me,” Raducanu, the Romanian archbishop of Bucharest, said. “I was protesting because they committed several errors, and I was protesting with two ways — from West and East — but this strategy might have angered the Pope. I knew the Pope was aware of these faults.”
Two months ago, Raducanu told Fox News the Pontiff was hesitant to cancel meetings and one-on-one conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He says this hurt him, because the Pope was inviting Putin into the family of Christ and, therefore, the entire Church. “Everyone in the world sees the relation of the Russians with Putin, and they are not happy with that relation,” Raducanu said. “The Pope tried to put the focus of the relationship of the Church to the third aspect — the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of Mary, that sense of family and of the family prayer.”
Raducanu added, “The Pope has a huge program to reform the Church, to go to the Father’s house, but the one thing he doesn’t do is to put people in the Father’s house — it’s the privilege of the Council of Cardinals to choose whom they want to go to the Father’s house. The Pope is a cardinal, he is Pope and he can choose but he doesn’t have the right to choose the candidates. For the group of cardinals who are appointing him, they are the ultimate judge.”
As he sat in a wheelchair, a man suffered a sudden fall in front of him. Raducanu had minor injuries and was placed under observation. He was released after a day, but he says he’s still recovering from the fall. “I didn’t fall on my own, but this is just a result of everything I had to accept for two months,” he said. “Of course you have to be able to give your life for God. I have had a few months of irreparable spiritual pain for the mistakes and mistakes that I made.”
Raducanu and the Pope have a bit of history and a relationship now that is making this priest’s time on the Vatican tour more emotional. The two were on a plane when the Pope expressed his concern about the poor and living conditions in Romania. He wanted to be able to have this kind of dialog.
“Pope Francis asked me to use all the possible meetings with him and I have used all the meetings with him. If you talk to a Roman Catholic you feel that he is the Father of the Church, of the people, and the Pope listened to me,” he said. “At the same time, he was a bit displeased with the Orthodox leaders. He had said that he would go to the patriarch, to the Patriarch of Moscow and he wanted to meet with the Patriarch. He didn’t get permission from the Patriarch of Moscow and now we’ll see if he’ll go to the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Raducanu is also hoping that the Pope does make it to see the large Armenian Church of the Armenian Church. He has plans to attend a huge service of healing and harmony on August 11.