Metropolitan Daniel of Moldavia and Bucovina, who studied in the West and taught at an ecumenical institute near Geneva while his country was under communist rule, has been elected Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The Romanian Protestant cleric who is said to have sparked the 1989 revolution that overthrew of Nicolae Ceausescu, the country's former communist dictator, boycotted the recent European church assembly in Romania, accusing it of 'shop window ecumenism'.

With its painful history and its recent proclamation as a European City of Culture, Sibiu in Romania - site of the recent European Ecumenical Assembly - has a message of tolerance and dialogue that can help the development of coexistence in Europe.

A senior leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has said the major churches in Europe need to join forces and seek allies from other faiths to ensure society upholds traditional ethical values - and has criticised Christians who take a different view.

Representatives of Europe's main Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches say they hope a six-day ecumenical assembly in the Romanian city of Sibiu will give a new impetus to the movement for Christian unity - and enable them to meet today's challenges.

A Romanian criminal, once labelled the country's fourth most dangerous, is electing to forgo parole after becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. He says that he would rather stay in jail to share his new-found faith and help his fellow prioners.

Churches joined enthusiastic 2007 New Year celebrations in Bulgarian and Romanian towns and cities earlier today ‚Ä' events which also marked the two countries' entry into the expanding European Union.