Archbishop of Bucarest
Most Reverend Aurel Percă was born on August 15, 1951, in Săbăoani, Neamț County, within the Diocese of Iași. He completed his elementary (1965) and high school (1969) education in Săbăoani. In Iași, he graduated from the School for Cantors in 1973 and completed his studies at the Theological Institute of Iași in 1979. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Iași on June 29, 1979, by His Excellency Msgr. Jakab Antal. Throughout his 40 years of priesthood, he has fulfilled various pastoral missions, responsibilities, and roles. From 1979 to 1980, he served as a parochial vicar at the "Saint Nicholas" parish in Bacău. Sent to Rome in 1980, he obtained a Licentiate in Patristic Theology from the Pontifical Oriental Institute (1983) and in Moral Theology from the Alphonsian Academy (1985). Upon returning to Romania, he was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of Iași (1985), while simultaneously assuming the role of professor of Moral Theology and Patrology at the Theological Institute of Iași. He served as Rector of the "Saint Joseph" Seminary in Iași from 1989 to 1994; on August 1, 1994, he was appointed Vicar General of the same diocese, continuing to teach Moral Theology at the aforementioned Theological Institute. On September 29, 1999, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Iași and Titular Bishop of Mauriana; he received episcopal consecration on December 8, 1999, in the new Cathedral of Iași. On November 21, 2019, Pope Francis appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Bucharest. He took canonical possession of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest on Saturday, January 11, 2020, at St. Joseph's Cathedral. On August 8, 2020, he received the pallium at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Bucharest from the hands of Msgr. Miguel Maury Buendía, Apostolic Nuncio to Romania. His episcopal motto is *In caritate radicati et fundati!* (Rooted and grounded in love; cf. Eph 3:17).