Romanian Orthodox Church under fire due to baptism ritual after baby’s death

“Given the tragic situations in which children died after being immersed in the font water, the church must urgently regulate this practice!” the petition says.

The six-week-old baby had a cardiopulmonary arrest on Sunday after being immersed in a font three times during his baptism at a church in Suceava, northeast Romania, CNN affiliate Antena 3 reported.

The police have opened a wrongful death investigation, according to Antena 3.

“It is undoubtedly a tragic case, a case that will have to be investigated. We will not imagine that a child can be immersed in water without covering his nose, mouth and ears,” said Vasile Bănescu, spokesman for the Patriarchate. Romanian, told Antena 3 Monday.

“There is a technique that an experienced priest always uses. This is how baptism is celebrated with the greatest care,” added Bănescu.

Vladimir Dumitru, who started the online petition, told CNN that he did not want to abolish the orthodox baptism ritual “but to change that sometimes brutal practice that involves the risk of drowning, especially in the case of children with health problems”.

“The petition is not directed against the institution of the Church or against priests, but it has a constructive intention,” he told CNN.

“With this petition we want the practice of baptism to be symbolic, spraying the baby on the top of the head and not completely immersing it three times, and this non-invasive practice becomes mandatory in all Orthodox Churches in Romania and the Diaspora,” he said him in an email.

CNN contacted the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Suceava Police for comment.