Let us preserve ethnic and religious peace in Bulgaria”: that’s the hope that emerged from the first meeting of the heads of all the religious confessions in Bulgaria, promoted by the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. It ended in Sofia in recent days. Bulgarian Catholics also participated in the meeting: namely, the President of the Bulgarian Bishops’ Conference Msgr. Hristo Projkov and the Apostolic Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza. A joint declaration, in which violence and the use of religion to foment hatred and cruelty were condemned, was signed by all the participants at the end of the meeting, also by the representative of Bulgaria’s Muslim community, vice-mufti Vedat Ahmed, and by that of the Jewish community. “We condemn any instigation against religious and ethnic peace in Bulgaria”. A special appeal was addressed at the mass media, asking them not to transmit events that insult the religious sentiments of man. “This was the first of a series of meetings of religious leaders – commented the Metropolitan of Vidin, Dometian, in a briefing to SIR -. We now wish to create a joint initiatives committee”. The next meeting will be held on 1st June on the occasion of International Children’s Day. The idea of an ongoing dialogue was also supported by the President of the Republic Georghi Parvanov.
