The visit of Pope Francis to Bulgaria will pass under the sign of peace- His Holiness Pope Francis chose the “Peace on Earth” motto for his apostolic trip which is based on the title of Pacem in Terris enciclica letter of the “Bulgarian” Pope John XXIII. Pope Frances will send his message for peace from Bulgaria.

Pope Francis will step on Bulgarian land at 10 am on May 5 and will hold his protocol meetings with Bulgaria’s Premier Borissov, Bulgaria’s President Radev and this country’s Patriarch Neophyte. He will make his traditional Sunday holy mass during the lunch prayer Regina Coeli. The event will take place at St. Alexander Nevsky square downtown Sofia and will be broadcast live to all parts of the globe. The Sunday holy liturgy at Alexander Battenberg square is expected to gather at one place Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Protestants and representatives of other religious denominations. They will welcome His Holiness Pope Francis and celebrate together this joyful and blessed moment.

On the following day, before departing to the town of Rakovski, Pope Francis will visit a refugee center to show the migrants his support and love. Their destiny is close to Pope Francis’ heart. That is why on Holy Friday, when Pope Francis traditionally leads the so-called Way of the Cross (Via Crusis) service at the Colosseum, he spoke of “the cross of migrants who find doors closed, because of fear and hearts that are armored by political calculation”.

Pope Francis will serve a holy mass at the Sacred Heart of Jesus church in Rakovski where children from the Roman-Catholic community will receive first communion. The call for peace made to the entire world from this place will sound particularly strong, Apostolic Exarch Bishop Christo Proykov says.

Before saying goodbye to the Bulgarians and departing to the Republic of North Macedonia Pope Francis will send a message of peace at the “Small Jerusalem” – the space closed between the Orthodox and the Catholic temple and between the Synagogue and the Mosque in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

Bulgaria was the country where the future Pope John XXIII embraced the idea that people from different religious denominations can leave peacefully together (from 1925 until 1934 Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was apostolic delegate to Bulgaria. In 1958 he was elected a Pope), the spokesperson of the Bulgarian Catholic Church told Radio Bulgaria. Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, Armenians and other denominations have lived in Bulgaria in peace and tolerance for centuries. Perhaps, many people wonder why Pope Francis chose to send his message of peace from Sofia and the answer is in this good example Bulgaria gives to the Balkans and the entire world.

The heads of the other religious denominations in Bulgaria will stand next to Pope Francis as a sign of support, so that the message of peace can reach all troubled spots around the world- the places of armed conflicts and the unfair and intolerant societies. Only the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church refused to participate. According to the canons, the Orthodox Christians should not pray together with heretics, and by presumption these are all religious denominations different from the Orthodox Church, theologian Ivan Zhelev explained.

I would not call this a refusal – the Orthodox Church refused to attend a common divine service and a common prayer, but we have not invited them to attend neither a common divine service, nor a common prayer, Iva Mihaylova commented. Patriarch Neophyte will receive Pope Francis at the Synodal Palace in Sofia together with almost all members of the Holy Synod who already voiced readiness to welcome his Holiness Pope Francis. In other words, there is no tension between the two churches and we hope that the visit of Pope Francis to Bulgaria will pass in the spirit of understanding. The Orthodox Bulgarians (4 million people) can also participate at the event.

In 2002, during his visit to Sofia, Pope John PaulII officially absolved Bulgaria of any link to the assassination attempt on him in May 13, 1981 at Saint Peter Square. Seventeen years later Pope Francis will upgrade his visit, the spokesperson of the Bulgarian Catholics Iva Mihaylova contends.

The visit of Pope John Paul II was a precedent, but after all we are talking about a Pope with other priorities, and in a different health and physical condition. While the previous visit (of Pope John Paul II) was mainly directed to the catholic community and Bulgaria in particular, the visit of Pope Francis is marked by a supranational event that will echo in the entire world with the call for peace Pope Francis will make from Sofia. His visit is denser and has different accents and the focus is on the ordinary Bulgarians, too. Pope Francis will visit the town of Rakovksi – there he will bless all people with open hearts willing to take a bit of the faith, hope and love brought to Bulgaria by the ambassador of peace and Jesus.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov