The Minister of Foreign Affairs Svetlan Stoev met with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro
29 June 2021 News
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Svetlan Stoev received Cardinal Marcello Semeraro from the Vatican, with whom they discussed the development of bilateral relations and their intensification in recent years.
"I most sincerely welcome you to Bulgaria," said Minister Stoev to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Processes of the Saints. "We share the same moral values based on faith, humanism, justice and compassion," he added.
Svetlan Stoev expressed satisfaction with the development of the dialogue between the Vatican and Bulgaria at the highest level, highlighting the visit of the President Rumen Radev to Rome on the occasion of May 24 this year.
During the meeting, our Foreign Minister acquainted Cardinal Marcello Semeraro with the initiative of Bulgaria, launched by President Radev, to present the manuscript "History of Bulgaria" in our country. It is the work of the Catholic Bishop Peter Bogdan, it was written about a century before the "Slavonic-Bulgarian History" of Father Paisius, and it is kept in Modena. "We will be happy to present this manuscript in the fall in Sofia at the National Library," said Svetlan Stoev.
Our Foreign Minister expressed gratitude to the Vatican for the support provided during the years of the Catholic community in Bulgaria, as well as for the opportunity provided to conduct a Bulgarian service in Rome in the Church "St Paul Alla Regola”. He also pointed out that our country highly appreciates the commitment of the Holy See to preserve the building of the Bulgarian Uniate Church "Holy Trinity" in Istanbul.
Cardinal Marcello Semeraro thanked for the hospitality, emphasising that it was highly appreciated by Pope Francis during his visit to Bulgaria in 2019. "The Bulgarian land is a crossroads of meetings between cultures and people, and Europe is born from the meetings between peoples,” said the Cardinal.
"We must strengthen Christian values and not destroy them, but on the contrary - to create faith in humans," said Svetlan Stoev, who gifted Cardinal Marcello Semeraro with a Bulgarian icon.