The 1927 Concordat was unilaterally denounced on July 17, 1948 (in December of the same year, the Greek-Catholic Church was disestablished, and its patrimony was passed to the Orthodox Church). New state regulations were designed to abolish papal authority over Catholics in Romania, and the Roman Catholic Church, although it was one of the sixteen recognized religions, lacked legal standing, as its organizational charter was never approved by the Department of Cults. Until 1978, the celebration of Catholic Mass in Romanian language outside Bucharest and Moldavia was forbidden by the government.