Lucian Mureșan

Lucian Mureșan (23 May 1931 – 25 September 2025) was a Romanian Greek Catholic prelate who served as Major Archbishop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia and head of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church from 2005 until his death in 2025. He previously served as archbishop there from 1994 to 2005 and as Bishop of Maramureș from 1990 to 1994. He was made a cardinal in 2012.

Biography Early life Lucian Mureșan was born on 23 May 1931 in the village of Firiza (now the Ferneziu district of Baia Mare), in the Kingdom of Romania. He was the tenth of Peter and Maria (Breban) Mureșan's twelve children. He attended primary school in Firiza from 1938 to 1944, and secondary school in Baia Mare at the Gheorghe Șincai High School from 1944 to 1948.

Education for the priesthood was prohibited when he came of age, as the Romanian Greek Catholic Church was completely suppressed by Romania's Communist government. Between 1948 and 1951, Mureșan attended school for woodworking, focusing on fine furniture in Baia Mare while continuing his academic studies part-time. From 1951 to 1954, he performed his mandatory military service first at the aviation school in Turnișor, Sibiu County and then at the jet aviation battalion in Craiova. In 1953, because of his connection with the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, he was transferred from the air force to work on the construction of Romania's first large hydroelectric plant at the Bicaz Dam. As instructed by Dragomir, he even kept his ordination secret from his parents. He exercised his pastoral ministry in hiding, mainly dedicated to young people and those who wanted to become priests, while continuing his secular employment. He later worked as a priest more openly in the diocese of Maramureș.

After Dragomir's death on 25 April 1985, Mureșan was provisional ordinary of the diocese of Maramureș until 9 August 1986, when, having been proposed by the diocesan chapter, he was installed in that office by Archbishop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia Alexandru Todea. He received his episcopal consecration on 27 May on the terrace of the Romanian Soldier's Monument in Baia Mare, (Government authorities had not yet returned the Greek-Catholic cathedral in Baia Mare over to the Church.) in the presence of 100 priests and more than 20,000 faithful. It was the first meeting of the entire Greek Catholic hierarchy at a large public event and included the presence of a papal representative. At the ceremony, the President of the Republic read the legal decree recognizing his title. (This was the first papal visit to a predominantly Orthodox country.)

On 26 May 2003, Mureșan was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

At the October 2005 Synod of Bishops, he described the meaning of the Eucharist under Romania's Communist government:

His remarks drew a rare round of applause from the synod fathers.

He was promoted to the status of major archbishop on 16 December 2005, when Pope Benedict XVI recognized the self-governing status of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church and raised the Archdiocese of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia to the status of major archdiocese. In the papal bull dated 14 December 2005 erecting the major archdiocese, Pope John Paul wrote that he was acting "to meet the demands of venerable brother Lucian Mureșan, Archbishop of Fagarasi and Alba Juliani of Romania, who, in the name of the Council of Hierarchs, demanded that this Church be raised to the status and dignity of a Major Archbishopric." As he was already older than 80 at the time of his creation, he was never eligible to vote in a papal conclave. He was generally counted as the third Romanian to become a cardinal after Iuliu Hossu and Alexandru Todea, though Hossu's elevation to the rank of cardinal was not announced while he lived.

Mureșan was named a member of the Congregation for Oriental Churches again on 21 April 2012.

On 24 October 2012, he was named an honorary member of the philosophy, theology, psychology and pedagogy section of the Romanian Academy.

In June 2019, he celebrated Mass at the beatification of seven Romanian martyred bishops, as Pope Francis presided, having made a point of visiting Blaj for the ceremony.