Financial Times
By Theodor Troev in Sofia


The Pope's four-day Bulgarian trip culminated on Sunday with a mass that raised hopes for healing the millennium-old rift between Catholic and Orthodox believers.


Although the nation of eight million is overwhelmingly Orthodox, crowds of cheering admirers waved small Bulgarian flags as the bullet-proof "popemobile" carried Pope John Paul II to the central square of Plovdiv, the second largest city and home to most of the country's 80,000 Catholics.

Over 10,000 believers welcomed the Pope with the words , "we love you" and "long live the Pope" as he arrived in the square, which was decorated with a Vatican emblem created from 100,000 flowers.

The 82-year-old pontiff served a three-hour open-air mass on Holy Trinity to believers from Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, France and Romania.

The Pope, slumped in a white chair on a unique steel construction that could withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.5 on the Richter scale, served the mass accompanied by four cardinals, foreign bishops and priests.

Beside the pontiff stood senior Orthodox church officials who had accepted the Pope's invitation in an apparent move towards reconciliation. A Bulgarian Choir performed Orthodox chants, something that does not contravene the canons of the two Churches, which separated in 1054.

These were encouraging signs for the Vatican, which has been seeking closer contacts with Orthodox leaders.

The 96th official foreign trip of the Pope - and his first ever visit to Bulgaria - is latest in a series of visits to predominantly Orthodox countries. Russia is one of the final goals of John Paul's papacy and his visit to Bulgaria is expected to become a step towards better relations between the Vatican and Moscow.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church has so far been rebuffed in attempts to travel to Russia and the Orthodox leadership in Moscow has accused the Vatican of seeking to expand its influence in traditionally Orthodox lands. During his visit to Sofia, the Pope met with Bulgaria's Orthodox leader Maxim.

On Sunday, Vatican officials said they were encouraged by the Orthodox church's reception of the pontiff in Bulgaria, and expressed hope that it could lead to a meeting between the Pope and Russian Patriarch Alexy II.

During mass, the Pope called on the Bulgarian Church to consider the possibility of opening of a Catholic seminary in Bulgaria to train young priests. He also addressed those professing the Islamic religion who also "worship, though in a different way, the only almighty God". Ethnic Turks comprise some 10 per cent of the Bulgarian population.

The Pope beatified three Bulgarian Catholic priests, who were executed after being convicted by a communist court of espionage. The pontiff said that through this act he wished to pay tribute to all martyrs of the Eastern Orthodox faith during the communist regime. He added he felt "duty bound" to also honour the memory of Orthodox Christians "who suffered martyrdom under the same communist regime."

Looking feeble and weak, the pontiff was visibly pleased by the reception in Plovdiv. Before departing for Rome, he told his hosts that "today we can give thanks to God that the bonds between us have been much strengthened."

On Sunday, the Vatican acknowledged that it may have to curtail Pope John Paul II's travel because of his feeble condition. A Vatican spokesman suggested that planned stops in Mexico and Guatemala during an 11-day trip to Torontoto mark the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day in July could be dropped.