At the beginning of the year, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church issued guidelines for clergy and believers regarding their participation in the 2024 European Parliament and local, legislative, and presidential elections.

The guidelines reiterate the Romanian Orthodox Church’s stance on political life and electoral campaigns. Ultimately, the Synod offers ten guiding criteria for believers to assess candidates.

The Holy Synod reiterates that “the Romanian Orthodox Church does not recommend the support of any political party or political ideology, but urges all citizens to make choices based on criteria that aim at the good of the country and the promotion of Christian values in society.”

10 Guiding Criteria

In this regard, for the evaluation of candidates in the European Parliament, local, parliamentary, and presidential elections this year, the Synod recommends to the believers the following ten guiding criteria:

1. Manifestation of faith in God and responsibility towards the community;
2. Defense of religious freedom and support for the spiritual and social activities of the Church;
3. Respect for the human person and promotion of the culture of life: promoting the traditional, natural family, consisting of a man and a woman, meant to conceive other lives; implementing policies against abortion, euthanasia, human embryo research, cloning;
4. Promotion of a comprehensive national education that combines intellectual knowledge with moral and spiritual formation;
5. Defense and promotion of the physical, psychological, and moral/spiritual health of the Romanian people;
6. Reduction of poverty, economic development, and demographic growth of Romania;
7. Defense and promotion of national cultural and spiritual heritage;
8. Protection of natural resources, environmental conservation, and agricultural development as bases of responsibility for present and future generations;
9. Support for Romanian communities around the borders and the Romanian diaspora, as well as promotion of projects encouraging Romanians to return to Romania;
10. Defense and dignified promotion of the interests of the Romanian people, both externally and internally.

Of course, these criteria can be supplemented with other useful criteria for guiding voters towards a correct, responsible, and beneficial vote for the country, according to the guidelines approved by synodal decision no—1731 of February 29, 2024.

Photo: Freepik