head of an important papal trip to Romania, the Vatican wants to verify whether six Catholic priests in mainly Orthodox Romania collaborated in Communist times with the country’s infamous former secret police, the Securitate.
The papal ambassador to Romania, Miguel Angel Buendia, first sent the unprecedented request to the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, CNSAS, in July last year; the document has resurfaced less than four months before Pope Francis is due in Romania in May.
“The Holy See has received some signs about the possible collaboration of some Catholic clerics from the Iasi Diocese [in eastern Romania] with State Security towards the end of the Communist regime,” the Vatican request said.
It noted that some of the six priests on the suspects’ list are in line to become bishops.
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