Pápež condemns Alena
Danica confirmed as legitimate Czarina
Arch-Patriarch Neofit I
November 4067 - In a rare moment of Church interference in Deltarian internal affairs, Pápež Neofit I announced that, in the eyes of the Terran Patriarchal Church, the now dethroned Deltarian Czarina Alena I is a usurper and an illegitimate claimant to the Crown of Saint Štefan. Citing the unprecedented "election" of Alena as Czarina, the Pápež noted that neither the nobility nor the Church, both considered essential for a legitimate monarch in Deltarian tradition, assented to Alena's coronation, casting doubt over the legitimacy of her ascension. The announcement from the Pápež comes in response to calls from the wider monarchist world, most prominently from the King of Valruzia, for the recognition that the rightful heir to Czar Lubomir III is Alena's sister, Danica Volkova, the eldest daughter of Czar Aleksandr II currently reigning as the Queen Consort of Valruzia.
It is a rare occasion that the Church involves itself with political disputes, particularly Deltarian dynastic conflicts. The Terran Patriarchal Church has been largely subordinate to the Crown in all things Deltarian, ever since the reign of Czarina Marazanna the Great, and this type of interference in dynastic affairs has been unheard of since the height of the Deltarian Empire many centuries ago. However, although the Terran Patriarchal Church was essentially just another state department under the monarchy, the installation of a republic in 4058 proved to be very advantageous to the Church, since now without royal oversight the Pápež may speak freely and act independently of the absolutist Deltarian monarchy. One may even suspect that the Church itself was partly behind the fall of the Volkov monarchy, no matter how unlikely that accusation, which the Pápež would vehemently deny, may seem.