Frail Pontiff Arrives In Bulgaria
Pope John Paul II arrived in Orthodox Christian Bulgaria Thursday for a four-day visit to the country and its tiny Roman Catholic minority. The visit is likely to test the stamina of the increasingly weak Pontiff.
The 82-year-old pope, who has looked ever more frail recently, left his plane in a cargo lift just as he did on arrival in Azerbaijan Wednesday on the first leg of the 96th trip of his lengthy pontificate. He required no such mechanical help on previous journeys
Far too frail and unsteady to bend down and kiss the ground — the traditional blessing whenever a pope visits a country for the first time — the pontiff instead kissed a basket of soil presented to him at Sofia's airport by a boy and a girl in traditional dress.
At a formal welcoming ceremony on the central St. Alexander Nevski Square, costumed musicians played folk tunes on the gaida, a traditional bagpipe-like instrument, as the pope walked with a cane to a white and gold chair on the square. He stood through the Vatican and Bulgarian anthems, clutching the chair's arms, then sat hunched, occasionally lifting a hand to shield his face from the sunshine.
"With deep joy I come to Bulgaria," the pope said, drawing cheers from the crowd for speaking in Bulgarian. "I am thankful to Almighty God that he honored me by granting this wish of mine, which I held close to my heart."
Bulgarians have been curious over the trip, but many were deterred by the intense security cordon and by warnings they would have to wait two hours to glimpse the Pope. Only around 2,000 people gathered in front of St Alexander Nevsky cathedral in central Sofia to watch the arrival ceremony.
"People got bored of listening to what was banned and where not to go. Officials have been too strict with the security measures and people decided to stay at home," said Yanka Dimitrova, a woman who went to the ceremony.
John Paul praised Bulgarians for "extraordinary contributions in saving thousands of Jews during World War II." Although Bulgaria was allied with Germany during the war, the country's king at the time defied a Nazi order to deport Jews after thousands of Bulgarians massed in protest.
The pope's visit is a historic first for Bulgaria, a nation of 8 million with just 80,000 Catholics. Many Bulgarians hoped it would finally dispel lingering suspicions that the country's secret service was behind Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca's attempt to kill the pope on St. Peter's Square in Rome.
An Italian court acquitted three Bulgarians suspected of complicity in the shooting for lack of evidence, and the pope — who was seriously wounded in the attack — has said he has "never ceased" to love the Bulgarian people.
John Paul was bringing a message of hope and reconciliation to Bulgaria, where he was to meet with the patriarch of Orthodox Christians and with top Jewish and Muslim religious leaders. He also planned to visit an Orthodox monastery near the southern town of Rila and hold an outdoor Mass to the southeast in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city.
The pope plans to beatify three Catholic priests who were executed in 1952 after being convicted of spying. Bulgaria was under communist rule at the time, and the Vatican has declared that the three were martyrs of the faith.
The trip, John Paul's 96th overall and his first abroad since Sept. 11, has underscored his ailing health. The pope's speech is slurred and his hands tremble — symptoms of Parkinson's disease — and he walks with difficulty because of knee and hip ailments. For the first time, a motorized platform was used for him to get on and off the papal aircraft so he wouldn't have to climb steps.