site.btaPM Zhelyazkov to Visit Vatican, Rome on Eve of May 24

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov will visit the Vatican and Rome on the eve of May 24, the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education, Culture and Slav Letters, the Government Information Service said. On May 22 and 23, he will lead an official Bulgarian delegation that will pay tribute to the holy places associated with the work of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The delegation includes Culture Minister Marian Bachev, Deputy Minister of Education and Science Tanya Mihaylova, Metropolitan Anthony and Petko Valov, Bishop of the Eparchy of St John XXIII for the Catholics of the Byzantine rite in Bulgaria. 

In Rome, Zhelyazkov will confer with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He will also lay wreaths at the monuments of Captain Petko Voyvoda and Ivan Vazov, as well as at the monument of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the yard of the Bulgarian Embassy, where an official reception will be held to mark May 24.

On May 23, the Bulgarian Prime Minister will be received in audience by Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace. Later, he will meet with the Vatican's Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin. 

Zhelyazkov will attend a solemn liturgy at the Basilica of Saint Clement and will honour the relics and the tomb of St Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher. The service will be presided over by Metropolitan Anthony of Western and Central Europe, together with priests from the Western and Central European Diocese of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Bulgarian Patriarchate.

The Prime Minister will visit the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where he will lay a wreath at the memorial plaque of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Zhelyazkov will also meet the Grand Chancellor of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Riccardo Paterno di Montecupo.