Romanian national president Traian Basescu visited a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Madrid, Spain earlier this month, drawing attention to the country’s significant Romanian immigrant population—6,000 of whom are Adventists.

“While the Romanian Adventist community in Madrid is loyal to its current country, its soul remains linked to ... those who are at home in Romania,” he told members of the newly-built Eben-Ezer Adventist Church on October 4.

Eben-Ezer is one of 14 Romanian Adventist churches in the region.

Over the past decade, Spain has absorbed more than 3 million immigrants from Romania, Morocco and South America, among other countries. More than 11 percent of the country’s 44 million residents are now foreign-born, one of the highest proportions in Europe, Business Week reported last year.

About half of the Spanish Union membership is now Romanian, said Teodor Hutanu, president for the Adventist Church in Romania. However, economic changes in Spain will likely curtail the trend, he said.

Mr. Basescu, in Spain for Forum Europa 2008 meetings, visited several Romanian-speaking religious communities during his stay.

His visit to Eben-Ezer—widely covered by Romanian television and newspapers—generated interest in the Adventist Church and raised its profile in the community, local church officials said.

Mr. Basescu joined more than 2,000 congregation members for Saturday morning worship services. He was accompanied by Lazar Comanescu, the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs; Maria Ligor, the Romanian Ambassador in Spain; and various secretaries of state, deputies and members of the European Parliament.

During his remarks, Mr. Basescu thanked the Adventist Church for its positive role in society and applauded the values it promotes. Pointing out a friend in the congregation, he added that the visit was not his first experience in an Adventist church.

Mr. Basescu also visited the church’s elementary school, where more than 50 percent of the students are children of Romanian immigrants.

Hutanu called the visit a sign of “a new appreciation” the church is receiving from government officials who recognize its impact in the community.