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• Pope John Paul II Blesses Bulgarian
Land
• Patriarch Maksim, President Georgi Purvanov
Welcome Pope John Paul II
in St Alexander Nevsky's Square
•
Pope John Paul II Blesses Bulgaria for
"Prosperous and Peaceful Future"
in Welcoming Ceremony Speech
Pope John Paul II
Arrives
on First Visit to Bulgaria
Sofia, May 23 (BTA)
Pope John Paul II arrived in Sofia at
6:15 p.m. Thursday with a flight of Azerbaijan Airlines. The
Pontiff is paying a four-day official visit here.
At the airport the Pope was welcomed by Foreign Minister
Solomon Passy. Later in the day an official welcoming ceremony
will be held at St. Alexander Nevski central square.
This is the first Papal visit in Bulgaria's 13-century
history.
The Holy Father's apostolic journey to Bulgaria is the 96th
foreign tour of his pontificate. It started yesterday with a
one-day state visit to Azerbaijan.
Bulgaria is the 132nd country visited by the Pope and the
sixth Eastern Orthodox country after Romania, Georgia, Greece,
Ukraine and Armenia.
Over the past 20 years Pope John Paul II received
invitations to visit Bulgaria from all Bulgarian heads of state.
He has also been invited by the Catholic Church in Bulgaria.
His present visit is at the invitation of a group of about 100
Bulgarian intellectuals, politicians, businessmen and popular
personalities who set up an All-National Committee for Welcoming
Pope John Paul II and managed to collect more than 20,000
signatures in support of the Pope's visit to Bulgaria. In April
2001 an initiative committee forwarded to the Holy See 22,222
invitations by Bulgarians from across the country. 
Sofia, May 23 (BTA)
Upon his arrival in Sofia the head of the Roman Catholic Church,
Pope John Paul II, kissed Bulgarian earth offered in a basket by
a boy and a girl in traditional folk clothes. Whenever he visits
a country for the first time, the Pontiff kisses the ground as a
blessing to the land and the people welcoming him.
Pope John Paul II arrived on a four-day official visit and apostolic
journey in Bulgaria. This is the first Papal visit in Bulgaria's
13-century history.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church was welcomed Thursday at the
government VIP hall of the Sofia Airport, which opened after more
than two years of repairs for the visit by the high guest.
At the VIP hall the Pope was welcomed by Foreign Minister Solomon
Passy, Apostolic Nuncio in Sofia Antonio Mennini, chief of the President's
protocol Atanas Pavlov, Bulgarian Ambassador to the Holy See Vladimir
Gradev, and Bishop Hristo Proikov, Chairman of the Episcopal Conference,
and other officials.
Foreign Minister Passy told BTA he met the Pope with the words,
"Welcome to the garden of Eastern Europe."
"Pope John Paul II blessed me and, in my person, as I was the first
Bulgarian to meet him, he blessed the efforts of the Bulgarian people,
our efforts to join Europe, and wished his visit will be successful,"
said Passy.
At the Sofia airport two cardinals, who had arrived earlier in Sofia
- Walter Casper, Chairman of the Pontifical Council for the Unity
of Christians and Ignatius Mousa, Cardinal Daud, Patriarch Emeritus
of Antioch of the Syrians - joined the Holy See delegation.
Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State of the Holy See, is also on the
39-man delegation accompanying the Pope.
The Holy Father's Apostolic Journey to Bulgaria is the 96th foreign
tour of his pontificate. It started Wednesday with a one-day state
visit to Azerbaijan.
Bulgaria is the 132nd country visited by the Pope and the sixth
Eastern Orthodox country after Romania, Georgia, Greece, Ukraine
and Armenia.
Over the past 20 years Pope John Paul II received invitations to
visit Bulgaria from all Bulgarian heads of state. He has also been
invited by the Catholic Church in Bulgaria. His present visit is
at the invitation of a group of about 100 Bulgarian intellectuals,
politicians, businessmen and popular personalities who set up an
All-National Committee for Welcoming Pope John Paul II and managed
to collect more than 20,000 signatures in support of the Pope's
visit to Bulgaria. In April 2001 an initiative committee forwarded
to the Holy See 22,222 invitations by Bulgarians from across the
country.
From the airport the motorcade of the Holy See delegation headed
to the St. Alexander Nevski square where an official welcoming ceremony
will held. The ceremony will be attended President Georgi Purvanov,
National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdjikov, Prime Minister Simeon
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Patriarch Maksim.
 Patriarch Maksim, President Georgi Purvanov
Welcome Pope John Paul II
in St Alexander Nevsky's Square
Sofia, May 23 (BTA)
Pope John Paul II was welcomed
officially in St Alexander Nevsky's Square by Patriarch Maksim
of Bulgaria, President Georgi Purvanov, National Assembly
Chairman Ognyan Gerdjikov, Prime Minister Simeon
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Foreign Minister Solomon Passy and Sofia
Mayor Stefan Sofiyanski. Each of them shook hands with the Pope.
There were some 3,000 people in the square, according to
policemen on duty, including official guests, representatives of
the Holy Synod, the Catholic, Muslim and Jewish communities,
Bulgarian and foreign citizens, and journalists. Metropolitans
told reporters they had been invited to the ceremony by
Purvanov. The crowd of people eager to see the Pope started
gathering in the square nearly three hours before the ceremony.
They saw a concert, which ended shortly before the Pontiff
arrived.
It took the papal motorcade and the official delegation
about 15 minutes to get from the airport to Sofia's central
square.
The Pope was met by the crowd with shouts of hooray,
applause and waving of Bulgarian and Vatican flags. Eucharistine
sisters, who act under the Catholic Eastern Rite, sang the hymn
"Christ Has Risen", which is common to Catholics and Eastern
Orthodox Christians.
The Pope was seated in a chair on a platform, with Purvanov
standing on his left. They were both standing while the anthems
of the Vatican and Bulgaria were played.
The ceremony opened with the President's welcoming speech
and the Pope's address in Bulgarian. His opening words were met
with applause and chants of "Holy Father". The Pope's words
about Bulgaria and his blessing of the country, peace, life and
love among the nations were interrupted by applause.
After the opening speeches, the Pope, speaking in Italian,
again thanked the Bulgarians for the welcome and blessed them.
Earlier, he stated in his address that he had never stopped
loving the Bulgarian people.
Pope John Paul II blessed a wreath of yellow and white
flowers - the colours of the Vatican flag - which was laid by
guardsmen and the Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo
Sodano at the Monument to the Unknown Warrior. Supported by two
members of the delegation, the Pope rose from the chair and
faced the monument.
Then the Pontiff got into popemobile and toured the square
en route to the Apostolic Nunciature, blessing the crowd as a
folk song played on the loudspeakers.
Not knowing which way the motorcade was heading, people ran
across the square to wait for it in front of the Foreign Art
Gallery and wave to the Pope once again.
People carried placards reading "Thank you for being here.
We are with you".
The welcoming ceremony ended without incidents. Only a few
people felt slightly unwell.
The last to go were the snipers perched on the Parliament's
rooftop and in the belfry of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
The chair in which the Pope was seated was taken inside the
cathedral, to be used again during the public events on Friday.
It was made to order in Plovdiv for the Nunciature, a sexton
said.
The whole ceremony could be viewed on a giant screen.
 Pope John Paul II Blesses Bulgaria for
"Prosperous and Peaceful Future"
in Welcoming Ceremony Speech
Sofia, May 23 (BTA)
Pope John Paul II blessed Bulgaria for a
"prosperous and peaceful future" in a speech he delivered in
Bulgarian at an official welcoming ceremony in Sofia's Sveti
Alexander Nevsky Square Thursday evening.
The Pontiff said he has never stopped loving the Bulgarian
people. "May my presence among you here today be an eloquent
expression of the respect and love I cherish for this noble
nation and its children," said the Holy Father.
"May the Mother of God, who is especially loved and revered
here, keep Bulgaria under its protecting veil and help the
people to mature and advance in brotherhood and concord! May the
Almighty Lord bestow His blessing on your noble country,
granting it a prosperous and peaceful future!" said the Holy
Father.
Opening his remarks, the Pontiff said how thrilled and glad he
was to arrive in Bulgaria. "Every year, on the occasion of the
Feast of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, Apostles of the
Slav Peoples, I receive representatives of the government
authorities and of the church in Bulgaria. So here I am today,
to return in some way your visit and to meet the Bulgarian
people in its wonderful country," the Pope said.
Greeting His Holiness Patriarch Maksim and the metropolitans and
bishops of the Holy Synod, John Paul II said he wished his
visit "to serve as a confirmation of our mutual familiarity so
that, with God's help, on a day and in a manner as the Lord
shall vouchsafe, we could achieve a state of 'perfect unity in
thoughts and intentions,' mindful of the call of our only Lord:
'By this will all know you are My disciples, if you have love
for one another!' (John 13:35)"
The Pope also greeted Catholics in Bulgaria, the Christians of
the other denominations, the members of the Jewish community
with their spiritual leader, the faithful of Islam led by the
Chief Mufti. "Recalling the meeting in Assisi, I stress my
assurance that each religion is called upon to promote justice,
peace, forgiveness, life and love among nations," the Pontiff
said.
He recalled the lifework of Sts Cyril and Methodius whose "seed
fell on fertile soil" and, down the ages, bore ample fruit of
Christian testimony and sanctity.
"During the long and frosty winter of the totalitarian regime,
which marked not only your country, but many other countries in
Europe as well, with the sign of suffering, the allegiance to
the Gospel did not weaken, and many children of this people
heroically proved their affiliation to Christ, often going as
far as sacrificing their own life," the Holy Father said.
He appealed that this sacrifice serve as an example "for the
purpose of a complete unity among Christians." "Let their
example be also instructive to all those who are working for the
building of a society founded on justice and freedom!" Pope
John Paul II said.
He called for the healing of wounds and for an optimistic look
at the future, stressing that this country has to cover a
difficult road, strewn with obstacles, but the shared commitment
of all social strata will help attain the desired goals.
"A wise approach is needed to the legitimation and preservation
of democratic structures, without sparing privations, so that
you can preserve and promote the values which constitute the
true grandeur of any nation: moral integrity and intellectual
honesty, protection of the family, help for the needy, and
respect for human life, from the moment of its conception to its
natural end. I wish you most sincerely that the efforts towards
social renewal, which have boldly started in Bulgaria, meet
with the required informed reception and generous support of the
European community," the Pope said.
He stressed that a people cannot achieve genuine progress by
political and economic means only, and that such progress should
also presuppose a spiritual and moral dimension. "Christianity
is deeply rooted in your country's history and culture, and this
fact cannot be ignored if you wish to pursue the process of
your national maturation in future," said His Holiness.
He emphasized that the Catholic Church would like to contribute
to the conservation and development of the heritage of spiritual
and cultural values of which Bulgaria is proud. "It wants to
join its efforts, the gift of which the Gospel can pass on to
the generations of the new millennium, to those of the rest of
the Christians, and devote itself in service to people of all
social strata," the Pope said.
He noted that Bulgaria, with its geographic location, forms a
sort of bridge between Eastern and Western Europe, "almost like
a spiritual crossroads, a land of encounters and mutual
understanding."
"This country brings together the human and cultural values of
the different parts of the continent, which have found reception
and respect. I would like to acknowledge publicly this
traditional hospitality of the Bulgarian people, recalling
particularly its exceptional services for the rescue of the
thousands of Jews during World War II," the Holy Father said.
Finally, he extended his blessing to Bulgaria.
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