March 3, 2002

On March 18, a population census will be held in Rumania during which the Csango people would have the chance to declare themselves Csangos.   However, hand in hand with the Rumanian government?s attempts to assimilate the Csango people, the Roman Catholic Episcopate of Jászvásár (Iasi in Rumanian) issued an encyclical calling for all of their believers to declare themselves Rumanians.   Unfortunately until now it was not widely publicized the role the Jászvásár episcopate plays on the forceful assimilation/ethnocide of the Csango people.    Last summer when Csango people traditionally attended the annual pilgrimage of the Csíksomlyó held in honor of Virgin Mary, the catholic priests of Csango villages admonished their parishioners for attending the celebrations held in the language of the Satan (that being the Hungarian, the maternal language of the Csangos) and promised eternal damnation for those who were present at the pilgrimage.