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BULGARIA - PAPAL VISIT - SCHEDULE BY DAYS
May 23, Thursday
6 p.m. - Pope John Paul II touches down at Sofia airport on board a special plane of Alitalia. He is welcomed at the new luxurious hall for VIP guests.
6.10 p.m. - Departure from the airport to the St. Alexander Nevsky Square. Tsarigradsko highway will be lined with the flags of Bulgaria and the Vatican. The Pope's arrival to the square will be preceded by a happening, with the participation of Valya Balkanska and the Military Brass Orchestra. A special platform with two or three places will be erected for the guest, depending on whether Patriarch Maxim will attend the ceremony or not. A platform for the happening, platform for the TV cameras, the orchestra, and a terraced platform for the media will be erected on the square. The traffic around the square, the People's Library, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the monument of Tsar Liberator will be limited.
6.30 p.m. - 6.45 p.m. - Official welcoming ceremony.
The Pope, to arrive from Rakovska Street on the popemobile, will be met by President Parvanov. A representative guards unit and a brass orchestra will be lined up on the square. Following the national anthems, President Parvanov and the Head of the Roman-Catholic Church will deliver speeches. The representative guards unit will march past the rostrum. A senior clergyman from the Vatican, most probably Cardinal Sodano, will lay a wreath at the monument of the Unknown Soldier on behalf of Pope John Paul II.
6.50 p.m. - Arrival at the Apostolic Nunciature. The Pope will be accommodated at the Embassy of the Vatican, the other members of the delegation at Hilton Sofia.
May 24, Friday
9.30 a.m. - Meeting with President Parvanov.
10.20 a.m. - Departure for St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, where ten minutes later the bishops from the Holy Synod will hold a prayer for Sts Cyril and Methodius, who were pronounced by Pope John Paul II divine patrons of Europe in 1980. It is expected that the Pope will be shown the Patriarchal Cathedral, which is currently under repairs.
11.15 a.m. - Laying a wreath at the monument of the Sts Cyril and Methodius in front of the People's Library.
11.30 a.m. - Official meeting with Maxim, Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, at the Holy Synod. The bishops from the Synod pointed out the meeting is at the request of the Pope and he will be welcomed with hospitality. He will be served the traditional Troyan plum rakiya and coffee. The Pope is expected to present Maxim with the relics of the Christian martyr Dassiy.
1 p.m. -Lunch in honor of the Pope will be given at the Holy Synod, followed by time for rest at the Nunciature.
5 p.m. - Meeting with representatives of the Jewish community in Bulgaria.
6 p.m. -Meeting with distinguished intellectuals, artists and scientists at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture, where the Pope will deliver a speech. The meeting will be preceded by an organ performance, most probably an electronic one.
7.40 p.m. - Arrival at the Apostolic Nunciature.
May 25, Saturday
9 a.m. - The Pope leaves for the Rila Monastery by a helicopter from Sofia airport.
10 a.m. - The helicopter touches down close to the Rila Monastery. The bodyguards from National Protection Service selected the touch-down plot near Partisan meadow. It is in proximity to the tomb of Saint Ivan Rilsky - patron of the Bulgarian people. The road will be impregnated anew before the arrival of the Pope.
10.30 a.m. - Visit at the Rila Monastery.
According to the Abbot John, who visited the Vatican with the official delegation of former Prime Minister Ivan Kostov, claims there will be no special preparations since the Pope comes as a pilgrim.
11 a.m. - Meeting with Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg at the Icon Hall of the monastery. A special upgrade with an inclination of some 13 cm. will be installed for the occasion, along which the Pope will be transported to the hall for the meeting with the prime minister.
12.30 a.m. - Departure from the Rila Monastery.
13.15 a.m. - Arrival in Sofia.
5.30 p.m. - Meeting with the Chief Mufti Selim Mehmed at the Apostolic Nunciature.
6.15 p.m. - Meetings with the Catholic community in Bulgaria - visit at the churches with Western and Byzantine rites.
May 26, Sunday
9.40 a.m. - Arrival in front of the building of the Plovdiv municipality, where the Pope will be welcomed by Plovdiv mayor Ivan Chomakov. Departure for the Central Square of the city.
Everyone willing to attend the mass to be served by the Pope will be checked by scanners placed around the square. A VIP entrance will be constructed for the diplomats. The Pope will be welcomed with a state emblem of the Vatican, made by 100,000 flowers.
10.30 a.m. - The Pope will serve a mass together with the four cardinals, accompanying him, Bulgarian and foreign bishops and priests. Kamen Vichev, Iosafat Shishkov and Pavel Dzhidzhov - Bulgarian Catholic clergymen, who were executed after being convicted by a communist court of espionage, will be beatified. The clergymen were close to Evgeni Bosilkov, Bulgaria's Catholic leader at the time, who was sentenced to death in the same trial. The Pope beatified Bosilkov five years ago. Plovdiv Mayor will present the Pope with a copy of the wonder-working icon of The Virgin Mary from the Bachkovski Monastery.
1 p.m. - Prayer "Angel of the Lord" will be said.
1. 30 p.m. - Meeting and lunch with Catholic bishops, priests and nuns from Bulgaria, guests from the Holy Synod and members of the Pope's retinue.
5 p.m. - Meeting with young members of the Catholic community at St. Ludwig Catholic Church.
6.p.m. - Departure ceremony.
7 p.m. - The plane leaves for Rome.
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Trud Daily, May 13, 2002
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