Fr Calciu — new hope

FURTHER international pressure is being brought to bear to secure the release from prison in Rumania of the Orthodox priest Fr Calciu-Dumitreasa.
Questions have been tabled for an early reply in the House of Commons, United States Congress and the French and Swiss National Assemblies.
Released from prison in 1963 after 16 years, he was again sentenced in 1979 to ten years for denouncing atheism as "a philosophy of despair".
In the past, August 23, Rumania's National Day, has been marked by an amnesty for some prisoners. This year, the day coincides with the fortieth anniversary of the Soviet "liberation" of Rumania and may give the authorities a reason for releasing Fr Calciu.
Fr Calciu has applied for release but has refused to sign the confession of guilt usually demanded of amnestied prisoners.