Pope Francis said Friday that his visit to Bulgaria next week will be a pilgrimage of faith, unity, and peace, with an ecumenical focus.
“My pilgrimage will be all in the memory of St. Pope John XXIII,” Pope Francis said in a video message sent to the people of Bulgaria May 3.
Pope Francis will visit Bulgaria and North Macedonia May 5-7.
The motto for Pope Francis’ Bulgarian trip is “Pacem in terris,” recalling St. John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical of the same name.
St. John XXIII, pope from 1958-1963, was canonized together with St. John Paul II in 2014. Before becoming pope, St. John XXIII was the first apostolic visitor and then apostolic delegate to Bulgaria, from 1925 to 1931.
