His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel welcomed the new French Ambassador to Romania Laurence Auer at his patriarchal residence on Monday, November 16, 2020.
The Patriarch of Romania wished success to Mrs Laurence Auer at the beginning of her diplomatic mission in our country and appreciated Her Excellency’s rich diplomatic, cultural and educational experience.
The French Ambassador thanked the Patriarch for the warm welcome and mentioned that during her short period of diplomatic mission in Romania she noted the important role that the Romanian Orthodox Church has in Romanian society and appreciated the contribution of Orthodoxy to affirming spiritual values in the European Union.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel highlighted that, in the spirit of the long traditional relations between Romania and France, our country benefits from France’s experience and constant support in continuing, deepening and expanding cooperation at a cultural and educational level, in order to train the young generation, with practical applicability, in the context of the challenges of contemporary society.
Education, the Patriarch of Romania underscored, also has the role of forming solidary characters, not individualistic ones, that would contribute to the consolidation of society.
In this sense, the danger of school dropout and illiteracy was mentioned, which was diminished by the Choose School project of the Romanian Patriarchate, financed from European funds, from which over 30 thousand children benefitted so far.
The Ambassador expressed her willingness to cooperate with the Romanian Patriarchate in areas such as education, including theological education, but also as regards defending human dignity, by combating human trafficking, etc.
At the same time, Her Excellency considered it very important for Romania to attract available European funds.
The Patriarch also stressed the European vocation of Romanians and the fact that our country has one of the largest Orthodox diasporas among the member states of the European Union.
Department for external church relations
Photography courtesy of Lumina Newspaper / Luigi Ivanciu
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