The Pope undertakes tomorrow another delicate trip to the outskirts of Europe

ROME.- The

Pope

will recall the unity of Christians and will encourage people marked by poverty and tension with migrants in the delicate journey they undertake tomorrow and until Tuesday in Bulgaria and North Macedonia, two countries Balkans on the outskirts of Europe, the Orthodox majority and with a small Catholic community.

Although the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires said in a tweet that he was leaving as "a pilgrim of peace and fraternity", it is a "sensible" trip, which will finish at the end of the month with another visit to Romania, also a country with Orthodox majority. because relations with this eastern church, divided by the great schism of 1050, are not easy.

In Bulgaria and northern Macedonia, the Orthodox Church is experiencing unresolved internal conflicts that affect its relations with the Catholic Church. In fact, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church – which is independent of the Patriarchate of Constantinople – does not participate in any ecumenical dialogue and "unanimously decided" to forbid its faithful to participate in prayers or celebrations with the Pope " , the sacred canons of the Church ".

Despite this, as was the case with John Paul II in 2002, his authorities will receive Francisco with all the honors of the "Holy Synod", his seat, where he will talk privately with the Patriarch Neofit. As his Polish predecessor also did, then Francis will silently pray in front of an icon of Saints Cyril and Methodius, evangelizers of Slavic Europe who were born in present-day Greece in 800 and who are recognized for inventing the Cyrillic alphabet. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, seat of the patriarch of Bulgaria.

Francico will arrive tomorrow morning in Sofia, capital of the country, after two hours of flight from Rome. In this country of just over 7 million inhabitants, where the vast majority is Orthodox, there is 10% of Muslims – a reign of Ottoman rule – 1% of Protestants, will encourage the another 1% of the population, who is Catholic.

Marked by a severe communist regime since the end of the Second World War, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Bulgaria turned to the West: in 2004, she joined NATO and in 2007, in the European Union (EU). However, the country continues to face serious economic and social problems: it remains the EU country with the lowest GDP per capita ($ 8,000) and the largest number of people at risk of poverty (40% ). Corruption is another important problem which, added to the above, has led to an exodus of nearly two million people in recent decades.

The pope should address these issues in his speeches as well as in the tragedy of the refugees. As with other trips, he will visit Monday a center outside Sofia, headed by Cáritas, where Syrian and Iraqi migrants were received. When the so-called Balkan route through Macedonia was closed, between 2013 and 2015 Bulgaria faced a flow for which it was unprepared, with a 1,300% increase in migrants. Although the emergency situation ended last year, the country maintains a strict policy against immigrants and builds a metal fence of more than 270 km on its border with Turkey.

First Pontiff in Macedonia

Francisco will become Tuesday, the last day of the tour, the first pope to tread the soil of North Macedonia, the former republic of Yugoslavia, which after years of struggles with Greece, has reached an agreement on its new name ("Republic of Macedonia" North). Candidate for entry into the European Union, it is one of the least developed countries in Europe, with just over 2 million inhabitants, also in Orthodox majority, with 33% of Muslims and, in addition, only 1% of Catholics.The Pope will pay homage to the Holy Mother Teresa of Calcutta, born in Skopje, its capital, will encourage the small Catholic herd and the rest of the population, also marked by tensions, poverty, unemployment and a wide dissemination of informal and illegal activities

"Today more than ever, it is necessary to develop in Europe and in the world the culture of encounter, the culture of fraternity and I will come among you to plant these seeds, sure that your land is good and that you will know how to receive it, bear fruit, "said the Pope in a video message to northern Macedonia, published this morning. In another video message to Bulgaria, he badured that "it will be a pilgrimage of faith, unity and peace".