Vatican <http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=22228> asks Romania to stop construction threatening cathedral
By Cindy Wooden 12/4/2006 Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The Vatican publicly has asked the Romanian government to halt the construction of a skyscraper near Bucharest's St. Joseph Cathedral. The physical stability of the cathedral, built in the late 1800s, is threatened by work on the 18-story office building just 30 feet away from the northeast wall of the church, the Vatican said in a Dec. 4 statement. The Vatican Secretariat of State hopes for "a rapid and satisfactory solution" to protect the cathedral, a symbol "of the values of faith that it represents, not only for the Catholic community, but for the entire Romanian population," the statement said. The Vatican, it said, had spoken to Romanian authorities "to ask for the immediate suspension of the work and the revocation of the respective permits" in line with European Union regulations on protecting historic buildings and with a Romanian construction-monitoring commission that proposed a bill in mid-October directing the government to halt the construction. By a 6-1 vote, the commission declared the land and construction site a public utility of national interest. Expropriation of the site and compensation to the property owners should immediately begin, the commission said. The commission also asked the Ministry of Public Works to investigate the project and file criminal charges against those involved in securing what appeared to be illegal permits. The Vatican said Dec. 4 it was still awaiting government action on the commission's recommendation. Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." (Carlo Goldoni) "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix)
