Romanian Greek- Catholic Archbishop Lucian Muresan was inducted Cardinal by the Pope Benedict the 16th during a special consistory ceremony this week-end at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican. Muresan was one of the 22 who were named Cardinals. He  is the third Cardinal of Romanian origins, after Iuliu Hossu who was named in 1969 by Pope Paul the 4th and Alexandru Todea, who became a Cardinal in 1991, under Pope John Paul the 2nd.

Lucian Muresan, 81 years old, had to wait most of his life to become a priest, while secretly learning and serving as priest under the Communist regime. Now the Archbishop of the Greek – Catholic Church United with Rome., Muresan had to wait for religion to be studied in schools again, after the Church United with Rome was declared illegal in 1848. Until 1955, he studied wood processing and got a job, waiting for the chance to study religion. When nearly finishing his studies at the Romano – Catholic Institute, pressured by the Communist authorities, Muresan and his colleagues had to give up studies, but he secretly continued to study, while he was being watched by the country's Secret Police (Securitate). Most of his life he officially worked in roads construction, and retired in 1990, at the fall of communism, but he also secretly became a priest. In 1990, Pope John Paul the 2nd named him Bishop of the Maramures bishopy, and then later Archbishop of the Greek – Catholic Church United with Rome.

Other Cardinals recently named in Vatican include Archbishop Thomas Collins, from Toronto, as well as the Bishop of Hong Kong, John Tong Hon, and Major Archbishop George Alencherry from India.

The College of Cardinals was established in 1150 and its main role is to advise the current Pope and choose his successor. Some of them, who are under the age 80, represent the pool of potential candidates to become the next Pope. Muresan, who is 81, will no longer be able to participate in the election of the pope or enter the secret conclave of Cardinals.

editor@romania-insider.com