/ world today news/ Pope Francis sent a message to the Bulgarian people for health, well-being and enlightenment during his meeting with President Radev in the Vatican
His Holiness Pope Francis sent a message to the Bulgarian people for health, well-being, and enlightenment. This was stated by President Rumen Radev to journalists after his audience with the Holy Father in the Vatican. This is the third meeting in the Vatican between the Bulgarian head of state and the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Today, the president also held a meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The head of state indicated that the visit to the Vatican took place in a warm and welcoming atmosphere. “The Pope wants our churches to get even closer, we have more than a thousand years of history in our relations, which started from the time of Prince Boris during the conversion of the Bulgarians in the 9th century,” said Rumen Radev. According to the head of state, the tradition established in recent decades of a Bulgarian delegation at the highest state level being received at an audience in the Vatican is an important sign of recognition not only for the work of the brothers Cyril and Methodius, but also for the role of Bulgaria in the global cultural space in today’s modern world.
The president pointed out that Pope Francis takes an active approach to all modern problems, and at the meeting they discussed “the modern scourge of statehood – corruption, not only in state leadership, but also in the church.” “Pope Francis pointed out today that ‘the devil enters a man through his pocket,'” said Rumen Radev.
The Bulgarian president presented Pope Francis with a composition prepared by the Bulgarian historian Rumen Manov. It brings together Bulgarian icons and symbols and Catholic symbols on mother-of-pearl, made in Bulgaria.
In the Vatican Apostolic Library, President Radev examined fragments of the treatise “On the Antiquity of the Fatherland and Bulgarian Affairs”, discovered a few years ago, written by Archbishop Petar Bogdan Baksic, who was born in Chiprovtsi.
The manuscript of Petar Bogdan is incredibly important for our awareness as Bulgarians and a nation and for the beginning of our revival, the president said and recalled that the writing of the manuscript preceded the “History of Slavonic Bulgaria” by Father Paisiy. “This work is about the antiquity of the fatherland and about the Bulgarian affairs, it is an extremely strong message about freedom, about honor, dignity, about values, about the awareness, about the identity of a nation,” said Rumen Radev.
The manuscript is stored in the library in Modena, and the President’s Administration has taken the initiative to have it exhibited in Bulgaria for a month, Rumen Radev announced. “The Pope and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin have pledged their support for this to happen,” said Rumen Radev.
Today, President Radev also attended the Divine Liturgy in the Basilica of San Clemente, where the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius served for the first time in the Slavic language after the blessing of the alphabet and books by the Roman bishop Pope Adrian II. The liturgy was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony. The President pointed out that it is a huge recognition for Bulgaria that today, for the first time, a service is being held by a Bulgarian archbishop in the basilica where our holy brothers Cyril and Methodius served. “With the support of the Pope and the Secretary of State of the Vatican, the Catholic Church is increasingly opening up to our Eastern Orthodox ministries, not only here, but everywhere in Europe,” said Rumen Radev. According to him, this is a great support for the unity of our communities around the world.
In the “San Clemente” basilica, the head of state paid respects to the relics and tomb of Saint Cyril. Today, the president laid a wreath in front of the monument to Ivan Vazov and the monument to St. St. Cyril and Methodius, located in the courtyard of the Bulgarian embassy in the Italian capital.
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