Cardinal Martino to Receive Romania's Order of the Star
(March 24, 2009) Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council
for Justice and Peace, will receive the Order of the Star of Romania. The president
of Romania, Traian Basescu, will present the award to the president of the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace at a ceremony Tuesday. The ceremony will feature an
organ concert by Felician Rosca, and will take place in the Church of Santa Maria
del Carmelo in Traspontina in Rome. The concert is a series of concerts titled “Meeting
with the other: Dignity and Solidarity,” being organized by the Romanian Embassy to
the Holy See. In a message sent for this occasion, the Romanian president expressed
his gratitude for “the solidarity shown by the Catholic Church to the Romanians of
the diaspora, whether Orthodox, Catholics, or Greek-Catholics.” According to the Romanian
head of state, the parishes are not only places to find spiritual support, but also
places where the faithful learn and show their loyalty to the community and the state
that offered them solidarity and welcome. President Basescu thanked Cardinal Martino
for the balanced, open and profoundly human positions that he has expressed in the
context of the recent debates over immigration in Italy.