Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodora Genchovska together with the official Bulgarian delegation to Rome, led by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, took part in the celebrations on the occasion of the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, May 24. The Bulgarian delegation attended a liturgy served by Metropolitan Anthony in the Basilica of San Clemente. The basilica is the place where the saints served in Old Church Slavonic language, also known as Old Bulgarian, for the first time in history. This happened after the Slavonic alphabet and books were blessed by Pope Adrian II (792 – 872).

After the service, Minister Genchovska bowed to the relics and tomb of St. Cyril in the basilica. The Bulgarian delegation also laid a wreath at the monument to writer Ivan Vazov and the monument to St. Cyril and St. Methodius located in the yard of the Bulgarian Embassy in the Italian capital city.

During the visit, meetings were held with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi in the Council of Ministers of Italy, as well as with the Bulgarian community in the country.