On 27 October 2012, feast of Saint Dimitrios the New, Protector of Bucharest, Basilica Press Centre of the Romanian Patriarchate celebrates five years of existence.
On 27 October 2007, following the initiative, blessing and care of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Basilica Press Centre was set up, made up at the time of Trinitas Radio station (broadcasting since 17 April 1998), Trinitas Television station (started broadcasting the same day), Lumina newspaper (7 February 2005) and Basilica Agency (started to operate on 16 June 2008). In January 2008, the Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate joined them.
Basilica Press Centre was inaugurated after the Patriarch of Romania celebrated the Divine Liturgy on the feast day of Saint Dimitrios the New, Protector of Bucharest, on the esplanade of the Patriarchal Cathedral, and consecrated the studios of the Trinitas Radio and Television stations – arranged at the Patriarchate Palace in only three weeks.
In a world dominated by communication, the Church remains faithful to the traditional means of conveying the true teaching of faith, but she is also open to modern technology in her missionary work.
The purposes of Basilica Press Centre are formulated in art 5 of the Statutes for Organisation and Functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church:
– cultivation of an active relationship and fruitful collaboration between clergy and faithful, between Church and society;
– presentation of the Church’s institutions, activities and attitudes in society;
– cultivation of the Christian moral values and promotion of the cultural-educational activity in society, supporting the development of the local communities;
– publicizing social-philanthropic and cultural-missionary programmes;
– promotion of objectivity and observation of the principles of the journalistic deontology when presenting the persons and institutions;
– concluding partnerships with institutions of press, culture and education in the country and abroad;
– encouragement of the dialogue between the Christian faith and philosophy, science, art and other fields of manifestation of the human spirit creator of perennial values.
