Pope Francis is connected to Bulgaria. In 2019, he made a landmark visit to our country. He was also in Rakovski, NOVA reported.
Now the flags in front of the municipality building are lowered to half-mast, the festive concert has been canceled. There is also a black flag in front of the community center building. The Catholic community, which is over 20,000 people, is grieving. On May 6, 2019, Pope Francis gave first communion to 242 children from all over Bulgaria. He remains in the history of Rakovski as the first pope to visit the city.
For the Catholic priests from Rakovski, Francis is the most sincere pope who remained among the people until the end.
“The one who was interested in people on the periphery, those who are the last, the abandoned, the marginal, the poor, people in difficulty”, said Father Nedyalko Nachev.
When he came to Bulgaria, the pope was initially supposed to personally give first communion to only 20 selected children.
”But at the last moment, the pope decided that he would personally give first communion to absolutely all the children and then he walked past us priests and greeted us”, explained the father.
Sister Elka, who greeted him at the entrance to the Franciscan monastery, still remembers the meeting with Pope Francis. Then she gave him a Bulgarian rose
„And when the Holy Father Pope Francis looked at the rose, he was surprisingly happy, smelled it and noticed that it had no thorns. Indeed, this rose had no thorns and I emphasized to him „Holy Father, this rose is for you, you see that it has no thorns”. And he shared the following words „this means that we are already in heaven, since the rose is without thorns. Only there are no thorns”, Sister Elka tells about their meeting.
Ivan Ivanov has warm memories of the Holy Father's visit. At that time, he was one of the altar boys, helping him in the Holy Mass.
„I carried his hat in a special saucer and when it was time, I went, brought it to him, he put it on. I shook his hand twice with him. I have a few photos with him, I have a gift from him and he left me one of the most pleasant memories for a lifetime”, he shared.
„It is very, very sad. On a bright day, a holy man, may his memory be bright!”, said a resident of the city.