Lucian Mureșan

Mureşan was ordained on December 19, 1964, by Ioan Dragomir, titular bishop of Palaeopoli in Pamfilia, auxiliary bishop of Maramureş. Initially, he exercised his pastoral ministry in hiding, while working in the quarry and then in the Department of Roads and Bridges. His pastoral ministry was mainly dedicated to young people and those who wanted to become priests. He later worked as a priest more openly in the diocese of Maramureş.[2][3]

The clergy of his rite asked him to reorganize his pastoral ministry. After Bishop Dragomir's death on April 25, 1985, he held the provisional function of Ordinarius of the diocese of Maramureş until August 9, 1986, and since that date, the selection and proposal of the diocesan chapter, Mureşan was installed on the property by Metropolitan Archbishop of Făgăraş şi Alba Iulia Alexandru Todea. In December 1989, the Romanian Revolution occurred, the communist government was overthrown by force and the head of state was executed. Shortly thereafter, the Romanian Greek Catholic Church was legalized.[2]

Elected Eparch of Maramureş from the Romanians on March 14, 1990, Mureşan was consecrated on May 27, on the terrace of the Romanian Soldier's Monument, in Baia Mare, by Alexandru Todea, archbishop of Făgăraş şi Alba Iulia of the Romanians, assisted by Ioan Ploscaru, Bishop of Lugoj of the Romanians, and by Guido del Mestri, Titular Archbishop of Tuscamia, former apostolic nuncio to Germany,[3] in the presence of 100 priests and more than 20,000 faithful. The terrace was symbolically adorned with a huge rosary of red carnations. It was the first meeting of the entire Greek Catholic hierarchy gathered at a large public event and in the presence of a papal representative. At the ceremony, a decree-law by the President of the Republic recognizing him as a bishop was read.[2]

He opened the Baia Mare Theological Institute in the academic year 1990-1991 and was promoted to the Metropolitan See of Făgăraş şi Alba Iulia of the Romanians on July 4, 1994, and on August 27 he was installed in Blaj. Mureşan began the reconstruction of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Bournemouth, which was completed in 1994. He convened and participated in the four sessions of the Fourth Provincial Council of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, held between 1995 and 1998. He participated in 1995 in the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Romanian Catholic Mission in Paris, for which he celebrated Mass in Romanian at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. In August 1997, due to his effort, the remains of Dom Ioan Inocenţi Micu were taken to the cathedral of Blaj (founded by him), from Rome, where he had died in exile 252 years earlier. In 1997, he obtained the nihil obstat from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to open the process of canonization of the seven Greek Catholic bishops who were martyred during the communist regime.[2]

Between 1998-2001 and again in 2004, Mureşan was elected president of the Romanian Catholic Bishops' Conference, which includes the hierarchy of the Catholic Church of both rites, Latin (Roman Catholic) and Eastern (Greek-Catholic). Between May 7 and 9, 1999, he received Pope John Paul II during his visit to Romania.[2]

During the Jubilee of the Year 2000, he organized a national pilgrimage to Rome, culminating in a concelebrated mass in Romanian with Pope John Paul II, in the St. Peter's Basilica, with the participation of thousands of Romanian pilgrims. On May 26, 2003, Mureşan was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and was promoted to the post of Major Archbishop on December 16, 2005, when Pope Benedict XVI recognized the self-government status of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, raising his traditional head, the Archdiocese of Făgăraş şi Alba Iulia, to the post of major archdiocese.[2]

Pope Benedict XVI created him a Cardinal-Priest in the First Ordinary Public consistory on February 18, receiving the cardinal's cap and the title of cardinal-presbyter of Sant'Atanasio.[2][3] As he was already older than 80 at the time of his creation, he has no right to vote in a papal conclave.

On June 6, 2015, Mureşan received the national commendation "Ordinul Steaua României" with the degree of official from President Klaus Iohannis of Romania.