Sofia, Bulgaria, May 5, 2019 / 07:54 am
In Bulgaria Sunday, Pope Francis said Catholics and Orthodox are united by the blood of the martyrs and the Christians who continue to suffer for the faith even today.
"How many Christians in this country endured suffering for the name of Jesus, particularly during the persecution of the last century! The ecumenism of blood!" the pope said May 5.
Addressing Patriarch Neophyte, the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and the Holy Synod, he said, "On this journey, we are sustained by great numbers of our brothers and sisters, to whom I would especially like to render homage: the witnesses of Easter."
Pope Francis met Patriarch Neophyte and the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on a May 5-7 visit to Sofia and Rakovski, Bulgaria, and to Skopje, North Macedonia.