VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis praised the late Cardinal Lucian Muresan, head of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, who endured risks and humiliation during four decades of communist persecution.

The cardinal, major archbishop of Fagaras and Alba Iulia, died September 25 at the age of 94.

“I give thanks to God for the exemplary witness of this faithful son of the church, who did not waver even in times of persecution. I recall with admiration the difficulties and humiliations he endured with courage during the years of trial, when he continued to serve Christ in the pastoral ministry even at the risk of his own freedom,” the Pope said in a telegram of condolence.

“His priesthood, marked by evangelical patience and dedication, revealed an unshakable love for Christ and the church, enlightening generations of the faithful,” the Pope wrote to Archbishop Cristian Dumitru Crisan, administrator of the archdiocese, in a telegram released September 27.

“I trust that, accompanied by the martyrs and blesseds of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, he will be welcomed into the joy of the eternal kingdom,” the Pope wrote.

Much of the cardinal’s seminary education, his ordination, and his early ministry took place in secret because Romania’s communist government banned the Greek Catholic Church in 1948.

He was born May 23, 1931, in Ferneziu, Romania; he had 11 brothers and sisters.

In 1955, a Latin-rite bishop allowed the future cardinal and four other young Greek Catholic men to enter the Latin-rite seminary of Alba Iulia. But in his fourth year of studies, the government expelled him and placed him under police surveillance. For the next decade, he worked in road and bridge maintenance while pursuing clandestine theological studies.

In December 1964, he was secretly ordained a priest in the basement of a building in Cluj, Romania, and for decades he carried out his ministry clandestinely.

In 1986, he became the clandestine leader of the Eparchy of Maramures, according to Vatican News. Communism collapsed in 1989, and the Romanian Greek Catholic Church emerged from the underground.

In 1990, the synod of the newly freed church elected him bishop of Maramures, and St. John Paul II gave his assent. Since the cathedral had not yet been returned to the church, he was ordained a bishop outdoors on the terrace of the Romanian Soldier’s Monument in Baia Mare.

In 1994 he became the archbishop of Fagaras and Alba Iulia. Recognizing the rebirth and vitality of the once-persecuted Romanian Greek Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI elevated its status to that of a major archbishopric in 2005 and recognized then-Archbishop Muresan as the major archbishop.

A major archbishop has authority similar to that of the Eastern Catholic patriarchs, and the key decisions of their churches, including the election of bishops in their home territories, is made by their synods of bishops.

Pope Benedict made the archbishop a cardinal in 2012.

His death leaves the College of Cardinals with 247 members, 128 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to enter a conclave.