Pope John Paul II will visit Bulgaria in the second half of May, 2002. Foreign Minister Solomon Passy announced that he had received a confirmation about the time of the visit from the Apostolic Nuncio in Sofia. Passy expressed hope that the visit will help "erase from the Bulgarian image the stain of the accusations for involvement in the attempt on the Pope's life". “Four Bulgarian Presidents have invited John Paul II to Bulgaria, starting from communist ruler Todor Zhivkov to Peter Mladenov, Zhelyu Zhelev and Peter Stoyanov,” Foreign Minister Passy commented. The Pope finally agreed to come on the invitation of an initiative committee that took up the initiative for the visit. "I am happy that the visit will happen during the mandate of our Government," said Passy, himself one of the founders of the initiative committee for the visit of the Pope. Asked how Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim reacts to the idea of the Pope's visit, Passy said, "He will react in a very respectful manner."

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