Bulgarian Parliament's Speaker Rosen Zhelyazkov will be received by Pope Francis on 24 May

A parliamentary delegation, led by the Speaker of Bulgaria’s Parliament, Rosen Zhelyazkov, will be received by His Holiness Pope Francis on 24 May 2023.

The parliamentary delegation includes the Deputy Speakers, Tsoncho Ganev and Filiz Khusmenova; the chairman of the GERB-UDF group, Dessislava Atanasova; the co-chairman of “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” group, Atanas Atanasov; MP from the BSP for Bulgaria group, Irena Anastasova, and the chairman of “There is Such a People” group, Toshko Yordanov. It included representatives of the Presidency, the executive branch, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.

On 23 May 2023, Bulgarian parliamentarians will lay flowers at the monument to Kaptain Petko Voyvoda in Rome.

The Bulgarian official delegation, led by the Speaker of the Parliament, Rosen Zhelyazkov, will have an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis on 24 May 2023. Before that, the Speaker of the Parliament will have a face-to-face meeting with the Holy Father.

Later, Rosen Zhelyazkov will meet with the Secretary of State of the Vatican, His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

On May 24, the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, of the Bulgarian alphabet, education and culture, and of Slavonic literature, the members of the delegation will attend a solemn Orthodox liturgy and a prayer service in front of the relics of Saint Cyril in the Basilica of San Clemente.

Cyril and Methodius were ninth-century missionaries and founders of the first Slavic alphabet, who were sanctified in Rome in the 19th century.

Afterwards, the Speaker of the Parliament, Rosen Zhelyazkov, will hold talks with the Head of State of the Sovereign Order of Malta John Dunlap. Later, the delegation will visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and flowers will be offered at the Bulgarian plaque where the Slavonic books have received official recognition from the Vatican.

During their visit to Rome, the MPs will pay their respects at the monument to Ivan Vazov.

Rosen Zhelyazkov and the parliamentary delegation he leads will hold talks with the President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic Lorenzo Fontana. The MPs will attend the reception at the Bulgarian Embassy in Rome on the occasion of 24 May and will offer flowers at the monument of St. They will also pay their respects at the Mass of St. Cyril and Methodius.