United Press International
By Vlad Lyubomirov

PLOVDIV, Bulgaria - Pope John Paul II ended a three-day visit to Bulgaria on Sunday during which he narrowed a millennium old split between the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches and exonerated the former communist country from lingering suspicions that it was involved in an attempt on his live 21 years ago.

The culmination of his visit was a Holy Mass on Sunday in Plovidiv, Bulgaria's second largest city, home to most of the country's 80,000 Catholics.

The clearly exhausted but resolute Pope, suffering from Parkinson's disease and arthritis, celebrated Mass in Bulgarian, which aides said he had learned especially for the trip.

In an apparent move towards reconciliation, senior Bulgarian Orthodox clergymen sat on the open-air stage during the Mass and a Bulgarian Choir performed Orthodox chants, something that does not contravene the canons of the two Churches, which separated in 1054.

During the two-hour ceremony the Pope beatified three Catholic priests, executed by the Communist regime in 1952.

" The Pope's visit to is a blessing for Bulgaria and is an important bridge between our Church and the Catholics," said Maya Ilieva a 36 year-old teacher who had spent 5 hours waiting in Plovdiv's central square for the Papal mass to begin.

John Paul's deteriorating health was in full view thought his taxing timetable that included meetings with the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Maxim, President Georgi Parvanov and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, former King of the small Balkan country of 8 million, who returned last year from 50 years of exile in Spain to enter politics.

Bulgaria's politicians were delighted by the Pope's statement that he "never believed in the so called Bulgarian connection."

"It is a historic day for Bulgaria. Now we can truly say that the Bulgarian Easter has finally arrived," the prime minister said after hearing the Pope's statement on Friday.

The exoneration came 21 years after a Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca shot and seriously wounded John Paul on St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.

Italian authorities charged three Bulgarians, allegedly members of the communist secret police, with complicity in the crime. They were later acquitted for lack of evidence but the stain on
Bulgaria remained.

It is the Pontiff's sixth visit to a predominantly Orthodox country, preceded by trips to Romania, Greece, Georgia, Ukraine and Armenia.
The Bulgarian Church is particularly close to the Russian one and his visit here is seen as one more step towards melting the ice with Russia's Alexei II, who has so far adamantly opposed a visit by the Bishop of Rome to world's most populous Orthodox nation.

A visit to Russia would greatly aid John Paul's ecumenical efforts towards Christian unity, which have marked his Papacy.

In all his statements in Bulgaria the Pope stressed that Christ is one and that the division between the two sister-churches must be overcome.
"I fervently hope that my visit will serve to increase our knowledge of each other so that, with God's help and on the day and in the way that pleases him, we shall live united in the same mind and the same judgment," said John Paul at the outset of his visit.

Judging by the fact that even Patriarch Maxim relented from his original intention not to greet John Paul and finally decided to attend the welcoming ceremony, receiving the Pope at his seat of power, the Holy Synod, on the following day and by the unexpected warm reception he was accorded by most of the country's senior Orthodox Bishops, it would appear that the Pope's hopes have been justified.

John Paul was visibly pleased by the reception in Plovdiv, telling his hosts before departing for Rome that "today we can give thanks to God that the bonds between us have been much strengthened."