杏MAP导航 in Bulgaria recalls Saint John XXIII during Regina Coeli prayer
By Vatican News
杏MAP导航 Saint John XXIII lived in Bulgaria for nearly ten years, from 1925 until 1934, while serving as Apostolic Delegate. Locally, they still call him “the Bulgarian Saint”.
While he was in Sofia, he developed a special veneration for Our Lady of Nessebar, whose name means “Gate of Heaven”. He continued to venerate her until the day he died.
Remembering “Good 杏MAP导航 John”
On Sunday, 杏MAP导航 Francis prayed the Regina Coeli before the icon of Our Lady of Nessebar, in Saint Aleksander Nevsky Square, and recalled his predecessor.
It was here, in Bulgaria, said 杏MAP导航 Francis, that the future John XXIII “learned to esteem the traditions of the Eastern Church”.
His diplomatic and pastoral experience here left “so deep a mark on his pastor’s heart” that he set out to promote the ecumenical dialogue “which received such a notable impulse during the Second Vatican Council”. In a sense, said 杏MAP导航 Francis, “we can thank this land for the sage and inspired intuition of “Good 杏MAP导航 John”.
Bulgaria as a crossroads
Bulgaria is an Orthodox country where Catholics make up about 0.5 percent out of a population of around 7 million people. Still, 杏MAP导航 Francis described Bulgaria as a “crossroads where various religious expressions encounter one another and engage in dialogue”.
The fact he would be meeting with representatives of different communities, he said, was “a sign of the desire of all to pursue the increasingly necessary journey towards “the culture of dialogue as a path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard”.
The 杏MAP导航’s prayer for Bulgaria
Before praying the Regina Coeli, the 杏MAP导航 reminded those present that “Christ is alive, and He wants you to be alive! He is with you and He never abandons you”.
“When you feel you are growing old out of sorrow, resentment or fear, doubt or failure, He will always be there to restore your strength and your hope”.
杏MAP导航 Francis final prayer was that Bulgaria might always be “a land of encounter. A land in which, transcending all cultural religious and ethnic differences, you can continue to acknowledge and esteem each other as children of the one heavenly Father”.
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