” “"Reasserting one’s European traditions, deeply imbued with evangelical values" and "strengthening the objectives so far achieved", starting from the "Christian roots" and the "Christian virtues that come from the teachings of Saints Cyril and Methodius, still more relevant and necessary than ever". This is the double recommendation made today by the Pope to Bulgaria, in his speech to the president of the Bulgarian Parliament, Georgi Pirinski, and to the president of the Parliament of the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Liubisha Georgievski, whom he received in audience today for the celebrations in honour of Saints Cyril and Methodius. While "the history of Bulgaria comes before the Christian revelation", said Benedict XVI, "there is no doubt" that in the Gospel Bulgaria has found its own "spiritual face", which enabled it "to rightly fit in with the cultural tradition of the European Continent". "After the sad, hard Communist rule commented the Pope today Bulgaria is intent on fully fitting in with the other European countries": hence the wish that "the cultural and spiritual foundations existing within the Bulgarian society may keep being cultivated even in those assemblies of which it is by now an authoritative protagonist".” “
