site.btaSofia Apostolic Exarchate Promoted to Eparchy Rank by Vatican

December 7 (BTA) - Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Saturday officiated at a service to raise the canonic rank of Sofia's Apostolic Exarchate to an Eparchy.

The mass at the Dormition of the Virgin Catholic Cathedral of Sofia was attended by National Assembly Chair Tsveta Karayancheva and President Rumen Radev.

On October 11, 2019, Pope Francis nominated the Apostolic Exarchate in Sofia as an eparchy with the name of St John XXIII for Catholics of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite in Bulgaria. Hristo Proikov was appointed the first eparchy bishop. He was anointed as such by Pope John Paul II in 1994.

After the celebration, Cardinal Sandri said more efforts were needed on the path of profound awareness and of cultural cooperation in a life of fraternal love.