site.btaBulgarian Patriarch Cables Congratulations to Newly Elected Pope Leo XIV

Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil has sent a congratulatory address to newly elected Pope Leo XIV, the Bulgarian Patriarchate reported on its website on Saturday.

"Your Holiness, Christ is Risen! We congratulate you most cordially on your election as Pope of Rome and head of the Holy See of the Vatican. In the past days, we have witnessed the sincere, fervent love that millions of Roman Catholics have for their spiritual father. We have seen the love with which they offered fervent prayers for the health and, subsequently, the send-off of your predecessor, Pope Francis, and the great joy with which they greeted you after your election. We trust that, according to the heartfelt desire of all of them, the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ, has given them such a shepherd who will be able to respond to them with the same love in Christ, who, sending a message of peace, will carry the peace of Christ in his heart and will strive to be at peace with all men," reads the congratulatory address.

"Your Holiness, our endeavour to remain faithful to the Apostolic Tradition, to the evangelical morality and the timeless virtues of Christ, is the pledge of our gracious success as shepherds of Christ's verbal flock, the pledge of the realization of the unity commanded by the Lord among His disciples, the Christians of the world," Patriarch Daniil writes.

"May our Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of His Most Blessed Mother, of St. Leo the Great, Pope of Rome, and of all His saints, grant you spiritual and bodily health and strengthen you in your highly responsible ministry!", the address reads.