Card. Parolin: Pope brings
peace, unity to Bulgaria & North Macedonia
The Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State looks ahead to
Pope Francis’ 29th Apostolic Journey abroad, which takes him to Bulgaria and to
North Macedonia from 5 to 7 May.
By Linda Bordoni
During Pope Francis’ Apostolic Visit to the
Balkan nations of Bulgaria and North Macedonia,
Cardinal Pietro Parolin says the Pope will be highlighting “that which unites”.
Speaking to Vatican News on the eve of the Pope’s departure,
Cardinal Parolin pointed to the logo and motto of the trip to Bulgaria, which
is “Pacem in Terris” - Peace on Earth - the title of an encyclical by Pope St.
John XXIII, the first visitor and Apostolic Delegate to the country.
“The Pope will be a bearer of peace, a witness to the Risen
Christ,” the Cardinal explained, and since we are in Easter time, we remember
the apparitions of the Risen Jesus to his disciples when his first greeting was
“Peace be with you. Peace I leave you; my peace give you”.
Parolin added that the theme of peace, which was central to
John XXIII’s pontificate, will be built upon by Pope Francis with those
attitudes of which John XXIII was a witness: “the search for friendship,
gentleness, amiability, encounter with the other,” and the capacity to
highlight what unites more than what divides.
“These great features of the figure and the Pontificate of
John XXIII had already emerged at the time when he was Papal Nuncio in
Bulgaria; I believe that it is along these lines that the contribution of Pope
Francis during this journey will be placed," he said.
Ecumenism
With an eye to the Pope’s schedule in Bulgaria that lists a
moment of prayer before the Throne of Saints Cyril and Methodius, a meeting
with representatives of different religious denominations, and a visit to
Patriarch Neophyte - the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church - the
Cardinal noted that the visit shines the spotlight on some particularly
significant figures of the present and past, such as those of the two Saints:
the brothers Cyril and Methodius.
They were saints of the Church of the first millennium, the
Cardinal said, a Church that was still undivided but where tensions were
already being experienced and which would ultimately lead to fracture and
division.
The witness they provide in their search for unity, in their
desire to evangelize new peoples using new methods and new languages, Parolin
said, adds meaning to the Pope’s encounter with the people of Bulgaria that is
to take place in a dimension of ecumenical fraternity, “recognizing each other
as brothers in the one Lord”, and at the same time striving to overcome the
divisions and the tensions that still exist.
It speaks, he said, of the desire to pursue the Christian
mission to bring the Gospel to the world, certain that the effect of this
evangelization will be all the more profound and incisive the more united we
are, proclaiming together the Word of salvation that the Lord has entrusted to
us.
Migrants and refugees
Pope Francis is also scheduled to visit a refugee camp
during his journey. Cardinal Parolin recalled the four verbs chosen by the Pope
in calling for solidarity and action regarding migrants and refugees: “Welcome,
Protect, Promote and Integrate”.
He pointed out that Pope Francis carries forward this
teaching with concrete gestures and never tires of bearing witness to this
important issue during almost all of his journeys and in many other situations
and occasions as well.
“Here, too, he wants to underline this aspect, taking into
account that protecting also means defending and protecting the dignity of each
of our brothers and sisters who find themselves in a situation of vulnerability
and often of marginalization,” he said.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
In North Macedonia, the Pope will visit the city of Skopje,
birthplace of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, focusing attention on the poor.
Together with John XXIII and Saints Cyril and Methodius,
Cardinal Parolin said Mother Teresa is clearly a dominant figure of this
journey.
“When I was in Macedonia a few years ago, I was able to see
how much affection and devotion there is towards Mother Teresa. Naturally, this
attention towards the poor, the marginalized, towards those who find themselves
in need, translates into something very concrete,” he said.
Mother Teresa, he recalled, compared herself to “just a drop
in the ocean, noting however, the ocean would be less because of that missing
drop”.
Cardinal Parolin said the Pope is bound to make that
teaching his own and insist on asking the faithful to put charity into action.
Challenges and opportunities
“I believe”, Cardinal Parolin said, “there are no
challenges, but opportunities in this journey”, especially taking into account
the geographical and historical reality of Bulgaria, which, he said, is a
crossroads of meetings and peoples, and the multi-ethnic and multi-religious
society in North Macedonia.
Once again, he concluded, it is an occasion to launch the theme
of the culture of encounter and of the mutual richness provided by diversity.
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