From 5 to 7 May the twenty-ninth apostolic journey of the Pontiff this time to the Balkan “suburbs”. An encouragement to the Catholic communities of the two countries representing 1 per cent of the population. Visit to the refugee camp in Sofia. John XXIII and Mother Teresa the two national patrons.
The last time a Pope set foot on Bulgarian soil was in 2002. That year, at the end of May, John Paul II had gone to Eastern Europe to show closeness to the people who still, after ten years, have been struggling to get back on their feet from the restrictions and persecutions of the communist regime and the socialist bloc. That was also an opportunity for Wojtyla to clear the nation’s name from the so-called “Bulgarian track” that for years had been one of the main hypotheses behind the attack in St Peter's Square on 13 May 1981.
Now Francis is the second Pope to travel to Bulgaria to see for himself the problems of a country that despite being a member of the European Union since 2007, is still stuck on the margins, marked by sheer poverty in which - according to a Eurostar research - half of the population lives, burdened by starvation pensions, corruption, complex ecumenical and inter-religious relations. Alongside this is the migration phenomenon and the consequent nationalist tensions between refugees from the Middle East and more than two million Bulgarians who have emigrated in the last fifteen years.
If St John Paul II had included in his trip to Bulgaria a stop in Azerbaijan, Bergoglio will continue his "pilgrimage" - as he called it - with a visit to North Macedonia, a land of intertwining ideological nationalisms. The first Pope to visit this part of the Balkans, the visit falls two days after the ballot for the presidency of the Republic which sees the challenge of the pro-European Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska-Dvkova supported by the sovereigns.
Francis’ twenty-ninth journey of his pontificate, will not, however, have any political contours, the interim spokesman of the Holy See Alessandro Gisotti emphasizes in the usual briefing in the Vatican Press Office. Nor will the Pope enter into the ecclesial "politics" that animate the Orthodox Church, caught in a juniper of internal tensions.
From its origins, this Eastern Country has been struggling to distance itself from Constantinople, for a long time aligned with Moscow, leader of the traditionalist and anti-ecumenical movement. Managing to detach itself from it in more recent times, the Bulgarian Church seems to remain impassive in the face of social problems, borne by the small Catholic community with which there is in fact no type of relationship.
On the contrary, internal controversies within the Orthodox clergy have spilled over into relations with Catholics, towards whom the prohibition of communicatio in sacris, or the prohibition of praying together, has been maintained. And in fact the Orthodox leaders said "no" to any kind of ecumenical celebration with the Pope during his trip. They did so in a note circulated two months ago, in which they pointed out that the Bishop of Rome had been invited by the civil authorities while their role in the organization of the visit had been secondary.
Pope Francis, therefore, will meet the Holy Synod and Patriarch Neofit, but will go alone to pray in the cathedral of Sofia, without wearing liturgical vestments, without any Orthodox representative at his side. In reality "no common prayer has ever been asked, it is not correct to say now that there have been steps backwards", Gisotti clarified.
The Vatican spokesman shifted attention to the real issue in the background of the papal transfer: the Pope's encouragement to the local Catholic Churches of both countries: two "little flocks". In Bulgaria, inhabited by 7,000,000 inhabitants, 91 per cent Orthodox, 1 per cent are Catholics (about 70,000 people), compared to 8 per cent Muslim. Even less in Macedonia: of the two million inhabitants, less than 1 per cent are Catholics (considering the territory included in the diocese of Skopje). About 15,000 believers divided into faithful of the Latin rite (to which less than 3,000 of the Albanian ethnic group belong) and the Byzantine Catholic rite (Slavic ethnic group). There are no particular tensions - as happens instead, within the Orthodox Church that falls within the jurisdiction of the Serbian one - but the move of the Pope a few years ago to appoint a single eparchy bishop, Monsignor Kiro Stojanov, head of Latin and Byzantine, seems significant. Unicum in the Church.
The few Catholics of both countries will all participate in the masses of the Pope: in Sofia, on 6 May, in Alexander I Square, where the presence of 7-8 thousand people is expected; that on Tuesday 7 in Macedonia Square with over 10 thousand faithful. "Considerable numbers", noted Gisotti, when compared to the statistics.
To "accompany" the Pope on his trip to the Balkans - where he will then return from the 31 May to 2 June for his trip to Romania - there will be two holy patrons: John XXIII and Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The first - mentioned by the Pontiff in his video message today - for ten years apostolic delegate in Sofia, is a figure of national identity so much so as to be commemorated as "the Bulgarian Pope", and Mother Teresa, born and baptized in Skopje. "The Holy Father wishes to underline the good of these figures, to retrace their footsteps. He feels accompanied by them", said the director of the Vatican Press Office, pointing out that the motto of the trip to Bulgaria follows the same phrase that gives the title to the historical encyclical of the Good Pope “Pacem in terris”.
And speaking of peace, Bergoglio will preside in the Bulgarian capital at a peace meeting with representatives of various religious denominations in the same church rebuilt after the 1928 earthquake thanks to the efforts of Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli. During the appointment, interspersed with the singing of an Orthodox children choir, some of whom will light a candle, he will also give a speech and recite the prayer of peace attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.
A similar event will be held in Macedonia during the visit to the memorial of Mother Teresa, a shrine visited by about 100,000 pilgrims every year, built on the site of the church of the Sacred Heart where the saint was baptized, then destroyed by the earthquake of 1963. Francis will meet the religious councils there and pray in the chapel where the relics of the founder of the Missionaries of Charity are kept. Then he will embrace the poor assisted by the sisters, greet Mother Teresa's relatives and bless the first stone of the Shrine dedicated to the saint.
Finally, the Pope's visit on the morning of May 6, before flying to Racovsky, the Catholic heart of Bulgaria, will be of great importance: Francis will meet with a group of migrant people, mainly from Syria and Iraq, housed in a former school now used as a refugee camp in Sofia. About fifty people, including many children, explained Gisotti. Some of them will deliver drawings to the Pope. The visit will not be streamed precisely to maintain an intimate character and leave the Pope the freedom to speak with these people, whose arrival has not always been seen favourably by the local population.
In total, the official "interventions" of the Pope will be twelve: five speeches, three homilies, three prayers and a greeting, all in Italian. Unlike the last trip - Andrea Monda, director of L'Osservatore Romano, will be present. Then there will be Cardinals Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Eastern Churches, and Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, the Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the Secretary for Relations with States, Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher. A construction worker from the Governorate representing the employees of the Holy See will also be present among the Pope’s entourage.
