"One of us"

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The Romanian Orthodox Church supports the European Citizens' Initiative “One of us”.

One of us

The Holy Synod of the Romanian Patriarchate, in a meeting on the 4th and 5th of July 2013 in Bucharest, has approved the European Citizens' Initiative “One of us”, which seeks to strengthen the legal protection within the bounds of the European Union of the dignity, right of life and integrity of every human being from the moment of his/her conception .

The aforementioned initiative requires the European Union henceforth to desist in financing any activities which directly or indirectly lead to the destruction of the human embryo, especially in the domain of medical research, research development and public health (www.oneofus.eu). Faithful to the guiding principal that life starts at the moment of its conception, the Patriarch of Romania draws attention to the fact that the destruction of the human embryos is unacceptable in Christian life.

In the above, the representatives of the Romanian Patriarch to the European Union and the Commission of the Roman Catholic Episcopate of Europe (COMECE) have actively supported the European Parliament’s revision of the “Ethical clauses” --especially on the question of funding the human embryo research-- for the new research program 2014 - 2020 -- Horizon 2020.

According to Art. 11 (4) of the European Union Treaty, an initiative by European citizens must be supported by at least 1 Million citizens of the European Union, coming from at least 7 different countries of the European Union before it can be considered by the European Commission, which provides a legislative proposal in the domain addressed by the initiative.

Every European citizen (from UK, Ireland, France, Romania, Belgium or from any another country of the European Union) of more than 18 years of age can support the European initiative “one of us” online on: https://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/ECI-2012-000005/public/index.do.

The Romanian Patriarchate advises its dioceses and the organizations which act with the blessing of the Romanian Orthodox Church to spread the news and support the initiative “One of us”.

In the struggle for the recognition of the human embryo as a person from the moment of its conception it is imperative that everyone who can supports the initiative.

Source: Press office of the Romanian Patriarchate. (www.basilica.ro)