The Romanian Patriarchate categorically rejects the information that appeared in the last days that the priests and monks would lose their medical insurance from September 1, 2025, qualifying them as “completely false” and explaining that they pay contributions like any other employee.
Reaction in the scandal of eliminating free contributions from health / source: Arch. Ramnicu
In an official statement, the institution emphasizes that the members of the clergy who have income pay, like any employee, the related contributions and taxes, and the monks without income benefit from free medical assistance through the State Secretariat for Cults, under the same conditions as any citizen without income.
“The priests have never been exempted from paying health contributions and did not benefit from free medical services without contribution. Both clerical staff and most monks are employees of the units of worship and pay, like any other employee in Romania, taxes and salary contributions, without benefiting from any special exemption,” specifies the Romanian Patriarchate.
Monks benefit from free medical care like other citizens without income
As for monks without income, the Patriarchate explains that they benefit from medical assistance based on the same principles applicable to any citizen without financial sources.
“The monks who do not make income – either from the Romanian Orthodox Church, or belonging to other recognized religious cults (by assimilation) – benefit from free medical assistance like other citizens without income. It remains that of not making any income ” It draws attention to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The income of the monks in the PFA regime contravene the church norms and the law
In addition to the denials on insurance, the institution also rejects the thesis that the monks would work as PFA. The Patriarchate points out that the alleged income of the monks in the PFA regime contravenes the church norms and the law.
“The statement that the monks would make income under the PFA (authorized natural person) is completely false and directly contravenes the statute for the organization and functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which prohibits the clerics and monks conducting economic activities. As provided by Article 1 of Law no. Religious cults have, exclusively, the right to produce and capitalize on objects and vestments of worship, as well as printing the books of worship, of theological or with a church content, necessary to practice the cult ”. These activities are not carried out by authorized natural persons (PFA), contrary to those who are wrongly stated in some press materials ” BOR officials also transmit.
The Romanian Patriarchate calls on responsibility in public communication, requesting respect for the truth and avoiding the propagation of unconfirmed or tendentious information regarding the status of the clerical and monastic personnel in the health insurance system, the source said.
