BUCHAREST, Romania - Leading lay members of Romania's Eastern Rite Catholic Church on Friday demanded the return of property seized by the communists, saying they would turn to international courts if their appeal failed.
"The Romanian state is continuing the policies of the Romanian Communist state which banned the Eastern Rite Catholic Church in 1948," said a memorandum signed by more than 30 Romanian Catholics in Romania and abroad.
The church wants the return of more than 2,000 churches, three cathedrals, libraries, land and other assets confiscated by the communists in 1948 and given to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The memorandum was signed by lay members of the Eastern Rite Catholic Church, most of them doctors, attorneys, and business people living in Romania, France and the United States.
It was sent to President Ion Iliescu, members of the government, foreign embassies, the U.S. Congress, NATO, and human rights organizations including Amnesty International. It gave the state until Oct. 25 to begin the restitution process in earnest or face international legal action after that date.
Government officials were unavailable for comment.
However, Iliescu said in June local communities and not the state should decide ownership of churches and cathedrals. Almost 90 percent of Romanians belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
A ban on the Eastern Rite Catholic Church was lifted after the 1989 anti-communist revolt, but there has been little restitution of property, and suspicions remain between the Orthodox Church and the Catholics.
The Eastern Rite Catholics say only 136 churches have been restituted since communism ended, and that worshippers are discouraged from declaring their faith.
The Eastern Rite Catholics, with communities in Romania and Ukraine, adhere to Orthodox traditions but hold allegiance to the pope. Many Orthodox clerics see this as a deliberate encroachment on their authority.
In June, Pope John Paul II called on Romania to hand back Eastern Rite Catholic real estate. The communists banned the Eastern Rite Catholics because its believers professed loyalty to a foreign power — the pope.
The 2002 government census lists just 230,000 members of the Eastern Rite Catholic church. However, the church claimed 750,000 members in 1999.