Prime Minister Boyko Borisov will send Pope Francis to Sofia Airport today (7 May), which marks the end of the apostolic journey of the Holy Father in Bulgaria.

From Sofia, the head of the Roman Catholic Church goes to Skopje.

The Holy Father arrived on May 5 in the Bulgarian capital with a papal congregation composed of 35 people - the highest representatives of the Holy See. Among them were the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, as well as Cardinals Leonardo Sandri and Kurt Koch.

During his apostolic trip to Bulgaria with a message of peace on Earth, Pope Francis visited Sofia and Rakovski. The Holy Father had a meeting with President Rumen Radev, with civil society and the diplomatic corps. The head of the Roman Catholic Church met with the Bulgarian Patriarch Neofit in the Synodal Palace and prayed at the altar of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius in the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevski.

Thousands of believers, Bulgarians and foreigners, attended the Sunday prayer "The Trinity of Heaven", which Pope Francis pronounced at St. Alexander Nevsky Square. Every week the Queen of Heaven Prayer is being watched on the air by more than 100 million believers from all over the world, and now for the first time it sounds from the capital of Bulgaria. About 12,000 people attended the festive Holy Mass at Prince Alexander Square, which Pope Francis attended, attended by the Bulgarian Catholic Bishops Hristo Proikov and Georgi Yovchev.

In both Sofia and Rakovski, many believers had come to see, hear, and touch Pope Francis and some of them also took pictures of the Holy Father. Particularly exciting was the liturgy in the church "The Most Holy Jesus of Jesus" in Rakovski, where Pope Francis gave the first communion to 242 children. The First Communion for the Children is their first encounter with the Lord, Pope Francis said in the temple.

A culmination in the apostolic journey of Pope Francis in Bulgaria was the peace event that took place on May 6 at Nezavisimost Square in Sofia. It was attended by representatives of various denominations in Bulgaria, and the head of the Roman Catholic Church made its message of peace to the whole world.

The motto of the apostolic journey of Pope Francis in Bulgaria was the title of the encyclical of Pope John 23 "Pacem in terris", called the "Bulgarian Pope". That is why in the official logo of Pope Francis' s apostolic journey in Bulgaria was depicted the globe on which our region is lit by a special graceful light, and the globe is encircled by the inscription of the Pope John's Encyclical 23 "Peace on Earth" in Bulgarian and Latin.

Pope Francis's apostolic journey to Bulgaria was his 29th visit abroad after his election as head of the Roman Catholic Church in 2013.

The program of the Holy Father in Skopje provides for a meeting with political and religious leaders and a visit to the memorial complex of Mother Teresa, who was born in Skopje but left it in the late 1920s, notes the press.

At the central square in Skopje, the Pope will serve mass for which 15,000 free tickets have been handed out, and people from different denominations were in hurry to get hold of them.
The Pope's visit will be two days after the election of a new president of Northern Macedonia - Stevo Pendarovski.

This is the first visit of the Pope to North Macedonia. The Pope visited the former Yugoslav republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Pope John Paul II was twice in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia, and three times in Croatia. Pope Benedict XVI was in Croatia. In 2015, Francis visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, TASS recalls.

The visit of the Holy Father in Skopje ends this evening when he returns to Rome.

A visit of the Pope in Romania is planned at the end of May.

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