International Military Conference of the Chief Chaplains

On Tuesday, February 7th, State Secretary and Chief of Department for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations, Simona Cojocaru, and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Daniel Petrescu, participated in the opening session of “International Military Conference of the NATO and PfP Chief Chaplains”, which took place at the Palace of Patriarchy from Bucharest.

The conference is organized in partnership with the United States European Command and conducted over 6-10 February.

During the conference entitled “The chaplain’s person and mission in the current geopolitical and religious context”, the debates focused on the status of the military chaplain, promotion of freedom, diversity and religious tolerance in the armed forces, the influence of the religious pluralism on the military chaplains’ activity, peculiarities of the religious assistance provided during multinational missions and the coordination of religious assistance in the NATO and PfP member countries’ armed forces.

The event, which is attended by 120 Roman Catholic and Orthodox clergymen, is important for the Romanian Armed Forces, considering their visibility in the international military space and their counseling role among the troops.

“I have always believed that the clergymen’s role is crucial, truly crucial in the security and defence architecture of a nation. You gathered here from several countries, having different religions but common purposes: offering comfort, giving courage and providing spiritual guidance, inspiration and encouragement, maintaining morale and being a beam of hope “, State Secretary Simona Cojocaru stated.

The Chief of Defence Staff emphasized the fact that in Romania, the military and the church, two fundamental institutions of our nation, enjoy an excellent trust quota among the population. “Since the beginning of their assertion on the history arena, the Romanians have maintained a tight connection between the church and the military. The military priests are preoccupied with the spiritual and religious requirements of the military and civilian personnel and contribute to the development of the military virtues and to the shaping of the civic responsibility and patriotic feelings”, General Daniel Petrescu stated.

This is the thirty-fourth “International Military Conference of the NATO and PfP Chief Chaplains” and the first time this conference is organized in Romania.

The conference working sessions are attended by chief chaplains from South Africa, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cyprus, South Korea, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Switzerland, Finland, France, Ghana, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Great Britain, Norway, New Zeeland, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, USA, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Hungary and Zambia.

The Press Office