POPE SPEAKS ABOUT HIS APOSTOLIC TRIP TO AZERBAIJAN AND BULGARIA

VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2002 (VIS) - In today's general audience, celebrated in St. Peter's Square, the Pope spoke about his recent apostolic trip to Azerbaijan and Bulgaria from May 22 to 26.

John Paul II said that in Azerbaijan he renewed his "appeal for peace, insisting that religions be decidedly opposed to any form of violence." Noting that "the Catholic community of Azerbaijan is one of the least numerous of any I have visited," he underlined that during the Mass celebrated in Baku he perceived that "the heart of the Church, one, holy, Catholic and apostolic, also beats in Azerbaijan."

"My visit to Sofia coincided with the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, evangelizers of the Slavic people," he continued. "This trip, the first for a bishop of Rome, was proposed to reinforce the ties of communion with the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria, guided by Patriarch Maxim."

On the pilgrimage to the monastery of St. John of Rila, he affirmed, "I wanted to pay solemn homage to Eastern monasticism which illuminates the whole Church with its centuries-old witness."

"The culmination of my short but intense trip to Bulgaria was the Eucharistic celebration in the central square of Plovdiv, during which I proclaimed Blesseds three priests - Augustinians of the Assumption - Kamen Vitchev, Pavel Djidjov and Josaphat Chichkov, who were executed in prison in Sofia in 1952 along with Bishop Eugenio Bossilkov, beatified four years ago."

The Pope concluded by recalling that in the gathering with young people he proposed "Christ's message, always current: 'You are the salt of the earth....you are the light of the world.' Christ calls all to the heroism of sanctity." He urged that the Church all over the world, "thanks to the constant intercession of Mary, Queen of Saints and Martyrs, spread the sweet perfume of Christ's holiness in the variety of their traditions and in the unity of one faith and one love."

After greeting the pilgrims in different languages, the Holy Father recalled that tomorrow is the solemnity of Corpus Christi and he invited Romans and pilgrims to participate in the Mass which will be celebrated at 7 p.m. in the square of St. John Lateran Basilica and in the Eucharistic procession that will follow.

AG;TRIP AZERBAIJAN; BULGARIA;...;...;VIS;20020529;Word: 365;