Habemus papam (“We have a Pope”) – this is how the cardinal archdeacon announces from the central lodge of the Vatican Basilica “St. Peter” the election of a new pope. The chosen one then pronounces his blessing “Towards the city and the world” (Urbi et orbi).
In the three days of Pope Francis’ visit to Bulgaria, we were listening to this blessing – a meaningful, responsible and frank speech of a leader with a mission. We have seen the signs of attention to every detail that carries the messages of reason, humility and respect.
In the three days of Pope Francis’ visit to Bulgaria, we learned once again that in its current composition the Holy Synod is a scholastic body, cowardly subordinate to someone and therefore unable to move forward. And it is better not talk about the next outbreak of Bishop Nikolay of Plovdiv.
Everything you need to know about: The Pope in Bulgaria (44)
For the cool inhospitality of Patriarch Neophyte when welcoming Pope Francis
in the synodal palace, as well as for the shameful inadequacy of the clergy in the three days of his visit, they say there was an explanation – the East-West schism (the schism between Orthodoxy and Catholicism) from 1054. Really!
How can one believe in this millennial straightforwardness, jealously inherited by the synodal elders, if only a few years ago they turned out to be actors in the atheist theater of the (supposedly former) State Security? But even this disgrace did not take them out of the trance of the zeal with which they turn their incense burners every time the secular authorities call them for company.
When was the last time you heard from a Bulgarian metropolitan that “the Church is our family, we are brothers, and our law is love”, as Francis said? When did you see Bulgarian metropolitan to give of his faith to 240 children with so much paternal patience despite his senile infirmity? Or to stop by teenagers chanting his name to encourage them to be noisy because that’s appropriate for their age. But also to teach them to be silent in their hearts, so that their prayers may be heard.
When Orthodox priests went to a migrant camp,
because “their path is full of pain, but there is always hope”? In return, we witnessed infamous sketches in which priests sprinkled for health nationalism, xenophobia, and Putinism because they recognized them as a refuge for their suicidal retrograde.
When did Orthodox Fathers enter the hospitals? Who did they hug? Who did they help to live or to pass away with less pain and fear?
What else did we see during the two days of the papal trip to Bulgaria? We saw Vice President Iliana Yotova in a much more subdued curtsey than the one in which she fell before the Russian patriarch a year ago.
We also saw our prime minister waiting for the landing of the papal airplane with slight amusement and with his hands in his pockets like a man who suddenly was lucky to find himself there. And then we saw him bored in the rain during the prayer for peace at the closing event of Pope Francis’ visit.
What happened in those three days on St. George’s Day? We had a Pope. Amen!
