WATCH: Romanian police attempt to evict abbot from historic abbey during Mass

ORADEA, Romania (LifeSiteNews) — Romanian authorities attempted to evict Abbott Rudolf Anzelm Fejes from the 900-year-old Norbertine Abbey as he celebrated daily Mass earlier this week amid an ongoing property dispute with the local government.

On April 14 around 9 a.m. as Abbot Anzelm was celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, a bailiff and local police entered the 18th-century Premonstratensian Church of Our Lady of Sorrows on the abbey property with an order to evict the abbot as about 40 of the faithful courageously stood with him. After the Mass, the police returned, and after an intense argument between his attorney, Andrea Varga, and the police, they ultimately left without removing him but giving him another 30 days to vacate the property, per Romanian media.

The local government has been battling with Abbot Anzelm over the property in recent months under the guise of renovating the monastic complex, which stands adjacent to the state-owned school building.

Mise közben érkezett meg a kilakoltatási végzés végrehajtója a nagyváradi premontrei templomba pic.twitter.com/OVMM30DxSi

— Istoria Ordinului Premonstratens din Oradea (@OPraem_Oradea) April 14, 2026

In a statement after the incident, Abbott Anzelm stressed that the abbey is not his personal property but belongs to the Norbertine provostry and that, as a result, law enforcement had no legal basis to enter the church to evict him. Under Romanian law, a functioning church and monastery complex is a sacred place that cannot be transferred or seized by the state, being extra commercium due to its religious use and purpose.

“These spaces are not my private property but belong to the provostry. Moreover, they serve as the seat of the provostry. As the legal representative of the provostry, I am residing in these spaces; therefore, the bailiff has no legal grounds to enter here pursuant to the first-instance eviction order,” the abbot said.

“If he does so, he will be violating public order, the Constitution, and religious freedom,” he wrote in his post. “This matter is not my personal private affair, but a matter of the Church, even if it primarily concerns me personally.”

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After the incident, police also spent several hours on the abbey property recording and taking inventory of its furnishings and belongings before finally leaving.

In January, the Oradea District Court ruled against Abbot Anzelm in an eviction case brought by the city.

The next month, in February, local authorities postponed the eviction of Abbot Anzelm after crowds of Catholic faithful showed up at the abbey church to protect and support him despite rainy weather.

At the scheduled time for the eviction, as with this week’s incident, the abbot stood openly at the steps of the church wearing the white habit of the Norbertine order and his abbatial pectoral cross. Although police were present, they declined to arrest him.

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In March, the Romanian State Secretariat for Religious Affairs confirmed that the Norbertine Abbey of Oradea is protected by law and cannot be seized by municipal authorities in Oradea. The secretariat even wrote to Abbot Anzelm confirming the legal status of his monastery under Romanian law.