Note of the D.R.S.P. Oradea concerning the state of mind in Romania described by Bishop Nicolae Popovici (June 8, 1950)
Note,
The Bishop of Oradea, Nicolae Popovici, who has in the past made numerous statements of incitement, continues to do so today.
Thus, on the occasion of a procession that took place at the Izbuc-Bihor monastery, in the presence of about 1,000 believers, Popovici said that “today” the leaders are not with God and do not believe in Him; these people will not succeed in their plans, because without God nothing can be done.
Nicolae Popovici continued: “People forget God and rise from nothing to positions of responsibility and try to reach the highest positions without thinking that they can lose these ranks, but God can never be lost because believers must fight the enemy who is against God. Let us walk the way that Christ walked, the way that is stained with blood. Proof of this are the disciples who were burned alive at the stake and killed in the most terrible tortures. That is why every Christian, every believer, must fight for the faith”.
At the end of the homily, Popovici urged those present to fight “on the line of religion against the enemy who does not want to know about God and the sufferings of the Saviour”.
Having come to Bucharest after attending the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the shepherding of Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan of Transylvania, Popovici told an acquaintance:
“It was a sombre celebration, like the times we live in. Besides, in the atmosphere of tension that the whole country is experiencing, it was not even the right place for such a celebration. The peasants, enraged by the new collection regulations, are ready to explode at the first spark. The regime is sitting on a volcano and does not know it”.
SOURCES: DRSP Oradea and “M. Stănescu”. Value: serious
Rap. no. 13/14377/1950
J1. no. 249691/1950
Measures taken: Notified as to be taken into account.
(ACNSAS, Informative fund, file 2669, vol. 1, pp. 130-131; document reproduced in the work On the Courage to Speak: Bishop Nicolae Popovici of Oradea, edited by George Enache and Adrian Nicolae Petcu, Partener Publishing House, Galati, 2009, p. 135).