The Romanian Patriarchy considers inopportune the decision of the Bucharest City Hall, which approved – on 7 March 2009 – to approve the space at the foot of the Metropolitan Hill to be used as place of manifestation for the people who disagree with the biometric passports.

While observing the right to free expression, the Romanian Patriarchy thinks such a manifestation in a space associated with the Romanian Orthodox Church it is not justified for the following reasons:
- the biometric passports are issued by the General Department for Passports within the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, not by the Romanian Patriarchy;
- as for the adoption of the state laws the competent body is the Parliament, not the Romanian Patriarchy;
- The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church – according to decision 638/2009 adopted in unanimity during the working session of 25 February 2009 – let the Romanian Orthodox faithful choose between the new type of biometric passport and a simple temporary one.

Therefore, the Romanian Patriarchy has already intervened with the two chambers of the Parliament, as executive body of the Holy Synod, to include among the stipulations for a passport release, a simple temporary passport for reasons of conscience or religious. So, the Romanian Patriarchy does not support the initiatives of certain individual persons or groups who do not consult or have the blessing of the local hierarch and disagrees with the manifestations of some groups of pressure, who have totalitarian attitudes and try to impose the dictatorship of their own convictions to the majority of the public opinion under the pretext of defending the human rights and freedom.

Moreover, these groups turn out to be incapable to observe the decisions of the Holy Synod who has both to defend the Orthodox faith and dignity and to be a factor of social peace.

Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchy