As part of a general political liberalization in 1967 the arch-bishop of Alba-Iulia, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Romania, and other clergy were released from imprisonment. The action marked the reopening of contacts between the Roman Catholic Church and the Romanian government in an effort to reach a satisfactory agreement that would normalize the position of the church in the country. Additional government effort to reach an accommodation with the church has been demonstrated by the appropriation of funds for the restoration of the historic cathedral of Alba-Iulia. Other denominations had been receiving regular funds for the maintenance and restoration of religious buildings of historic or artistic significance, but the Roman Catholic Church had been denied such funds until 1967. In 1972 contacts between Romania and the Holy See, which had begun in 1967, were continuing. Several meetings had taken place between the Romanian Orthodox patriarch, Justinian, and Cardinal Koenig, who heads the Vatican secretariat for nonbelievers. No agreement legalizing the position of the Roman Catholic Church in Romania has been reached, however. The government promoted the creation of the Catholic Church of Romania, which was formed in 1951. It is administratively independent of the pope and recognizes the supremacy of the state over church affairs. Legal justification for the move was found in a statute passed in Transylvania in the seventeenth century that placed the conduct of Catholic church affairs in the hands of clergy and laymen directly subordinate to the pope in order to preserve the church from engulfment by the Reformation. In early 1972 the Catholic Church of Romania was headed by a council composed of both lay and clerical members. It recognized the pope as supreme authority on matters of faith, morals, and dogma but rejected any organizational connection with the Holy See. PROTESTANT CHURCHES Protestantism is closely identified with the Hungarian and German minorities of Transylvania. Although the churches themselves have refrained from any political activity on behalf of the minorities, their ethnic composition has made them politically significant at times. The Protestant population, estimated at about 1.2 million in 1950, was divided into Calvinist, Lutheran, Baptist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Evangelical, and Pentecostal churches.