Pope meets with presidents of Bulgaria, Moldova

Published: 2003-12-01

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II met with presidents of Bulgaria and Moldova, and said the minority Catholic communities in both countries want to keep up a fruitful dialogue with other religions and state authorities. The pope looked relatively strong during the separate meetings at the Vatican Nov. 27 and 28. He pronounced in full his short speeches to the presidents after meeting each for about 15-20 minutes of private talks. At the end of the papal audience, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov publicly thanked the pope for saying, during his trip in 2002, that he had never believed in the so-called "Bulgarian connection" to the papal shooting of 1981. Meeting with President Vladimir Voronin of Moldova, a small republic that borders Ukraine and Romania, the pope encouraged the country to act as a bridge between the Slavic and Latin worlds. He said dialogue should be the primary instrument for promoting peace, justice and well being on the continent.

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