H.E. Mr. Vladimir Gradev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Holy See and the Maltese Order

Associate professor Vladimir Gradev, PhD, was born on May 12, 1963 in Varna. He finished the French Language High School in his native town. Graduated in French Philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. Specialised in Philosophy at the Paris VIII University. In 1996 he defended a doctoral thesis in philosophy at Sofia University. His professional career has been bound with Sofia University, where he teaches culturology. He has been visiting professor in France and the Netherlands.

He has two published books and more than 50 articles in Bulgarian, French, English and Italian.

Your Excellency, we are marking 15 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Vatican, but our relations date from centuries. What are the highlights in the historic and diplomatic road passed between the Bulgarian state and the Holy See?
Prince Boris I laid the beginning of the relations between Bulgaria and the Holy See and had active correspondence with the popes of the time. The letters of Pope Nicholas I and Pope John VIII are preserved and kept in the Secret Archives of the Vatican. They are some of the oldest diplomatic documents which have come to this day. We know that the big question for Boris at the time was who was to Christian him and the Bulgarian people, the Constantinople Patriarch or the Roman Pope. Rome strived hard to win the Bulgarians and in 866 sent Cardinal Formosius as legate, i.e. first ambassador to Bulgaria, who in 891 was elected Pope, an eloquent fact in itself.

Therefore, we can consider that the relations between the Holy See and Bulgaria were incepted in 866. Only two years later in Rome would die St. Cyril, who had received official recognition of his work from Pope Adrian II, and his disciples would soon be welcomed in Bulgaria.

Throughout the Middle Ages the Bulgarian rulers attached great importance to the relations with the Holy See and maintained constant and intensive contacts (suffice it to mention the relations between Tsar Kaloyan and Pope Innocent III). This is why there is a large stock of invaluable manuscripts kept at the Secret Archives and the Apostolic Library of the Vatican, which are major sources for the Bulgarian history.

During the period of Ottoman domination, catholic missionaries were active in Bulgaria, public-spirited Bulgarians also sought help from Rome, suffice it to mention the work of Archbishop Peter Parchevich, author of Abagar, who died and was buried in Rome, or in the 19th century the personality of Archbishop Joseph Sokolski.

During the first half of the 20th century dominant in our relations was the personality of the Venerable John XXIII, who in the course of nine years, 1925 to 1934, was Apostolic Delegate to Bulgaria, and who will go down in history as “the Bulgarian Pope”. In the years of totalitarianism there were no official relations with the Holy See – the Catholic Church in Bulgaria was persecuted, many clergymen, nuns and faithful were arrested, sent for long years in prison or camps, interned. In the early 1950s a spectacular trial was staged and monsignor Bosilkov and the priests Shishkov, Djidjev and Vichev were sentenced to death and executed, while many others were convicted of many years of imprisonment. All catholic hospitals and schools, as well as many churches were closed down and expropriated.

It was only in the 1970s that our relations started warming up, thanks mostly to the “quiet diplomacy” of the Vatican and above all of Cardinal Casaroli, who visited Bulgaria and met with Todor Zhivkov. 1975 saw the beginning of the May 24 visits of a Bulgarian government delegation paying homage to the grave of St. Cyril in Rome, also received by Pope Paul VI. I must underscore that the campaign around the so-called “Bulgarian trace” in the assault against the Pope has no negative effect whatsoever on the bilateral relations. Pope John Paul II received the Bulgarian government delegations in the 1980s and invariably declared he loved the Bulgarians and trusted them.

The collapse of the totalitarian regime made possible the establishment of diplomatic relations on December 6, 1991. The first Bulgarian ambassador to the Holy See was the highly respected public figure Mr. Kiril Marichkov. In 1998 he was succeeded by Mr. Svetozar Raev, and I am the third Bulgarian ambassador.

The great effort of my predecessors in the 1990s was the creation of conditions for the visit of Pope John Paul II. I am happy that in May 2002 this visit became a fact and it is indeed the peak in our bilateral relations. I cannot pass by the fact that in the last two years our President visited the Vatican three times. He was the first European head of state (after the Italian President) who was received on a state visit by Pope Benedict XVI within a month after his election. Also, the good tradition of a Bulgarian government delegation coming every year on May 24 to Rome and meeting with the Holy Father was preserved.

Over the past few years we focused on our cooperation with the diplomacy of the Holy See in the field of foreign policy and exchange of information on important issues of international politics and cooperation in the international organizations. The ecumenical dialogue was given impetus, the contacts with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church were enhanced and are developing fruitfully. Special attention was paid to charity with influential catholic organizations – we signed an agreement for cooperation in the prevention and therapy of drug addiction with the Catholic Association of Therapeutic Communities, the hospitals in Belene, Targovishte and Plovdiv received aid.

You are one of the prime organizers of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Bulgaria and of various visits of cardinals and Vatican diplomats. What is their impact on the bilateral relations?
The primary result from the visit of Pope John Paul II is that he remained forever in the heart of every Bulgarian. The Holy Father came to Bulgaria on May 24, in the footsteps of Cyril and Methodius, whom it was he who had proclaimed patrons of Europe, and in this way lent additional weight to the historic role of Bulgaria as cradle of the Slav letters and culture. His visit was extensively covered worldwide – films and countless reportages were made – never had been written so much about Bulgaria and with such elan. I can very well say that since that visit all doors in the Vatican are open for Bulgaria and we meet only true friends there.

Naturally we tried to make the best of the favourable climate: a wonderful church was obtained for the Bulgarian Orthodox community in Rome, on the square of Fontana di Trevi – the dream of any tourist; Bulgaria became the first country to have a monument in the Vatican gardens.

The visits of the high prelates to Bulgaria are aimed at acquainting the broad Bulgarian public with the Vatican world and maintaining the highest possible level of constant diplomatic contact. No less important for us are the visits and talks of Bulgarian politicians. By virtue of all this, the Holy See has become our friend and reliable partner, and to appreciate the momentum of this fact we only need to think of the world prestige of the Pope and the very active and significant role of the Vatican in international politics.

What are your memories of Pope John Paul II?
I was fortunate to have about a dozen personal meetings with Pope John Paul II. I will never forget our first long conversation at the presentation of my letters of credence on December 21, 2001. I remember every word of this conversation. Then he was genuinely excited and happy about his forthcoming visit to Bulgaria. I was extremely astonished and touched by the attention and warmth he received me with. He asked about everything – about my family and parents, about my native city of Varna, which he of course associated with the sacrifice of Wladyslaw III Warnenczyk, about Sofia University, which I came from. His questions were not just a matter of courtesy, because at our subsequent meetings he often came back to what I had said and I found it incredible that he should remember.

Each of the following meetings was a dramatic event. To break the vicious and blind circle of violence after September 11, in January 2002 Pope John Paul II gathered in Assisi the spiritual leaders of all large world religions. There the Pope raised his voice: No one can kill in the name of God! Bent under the weight of age, trials and disease, in Assisi he stood humbly, listening to the call of the Spirit in the beginning of the new millennium, contemplating the sufferings of the world. The Pope indicated that without aiming at the heart of evil, without assuming responsibility there was no confession and penance, without facing the Other there was no forgiveness that would raise the bow of hope above the abyss of evil.

Later his strength steadily and visibly declined, his suffering seemed endless and unbearable, but striking was the power of his mind and the passion of his spirit, which resisted to the last. Most impressive were his eyes – live, filled with tears, tender, angry – they showed that no one lives for oneself, no one dies for oneself. Today we are afraid and even ashamed of disease and suffering, we try to hide them, to remove them farther away from ourselves, whereas Pope John Paul II, on the contrary, wanted to testify to the dignity of absolutely every man, no matter how old or sick. In short, he revealed the grandeur of man in his greatest misery. You see, all of us who were in Rome this spring were changed – not only by the agony and death of Pope John Paul II but by the compassion of the millions of people from Italy nay, from across the world who flocked at St. Peter Square to pray under his windows, and then wait a whole day and night if need be, to pay their last respects to him.

Throughout the week not a single crime was registered in Rome, although millions of people were constantly in the streets. Even we, humans, heads bowed, seemed more human, as if we understood what is the single thing we need in life, and the whole world was lit up, though for a moment, by the gospel star of hope.

The Bulgarian literary culture has traditional links with the Vatican, a number of Bulgarian manuscripts are kept at the Vatican Library. During your term, the relations between Bulgaria and the Vatican at academic level were enhanced. What has been done and what is still to be done?
Today the cooperation between Bulgaria and the Vatican at academic level is expressed mainly in the training of students at the big Catholic universities. I am particularly proud that this autumn for the first time a Bulgarian, father Yovko Pishtiiski, was admitted to the Pontifical Ecclesiastic Academy, the oldest diplomatic academy in the world, which has been in existence for more than 300 years. It is the school of the Vatican elite: among its alumni there are five popes and hundreds of cardinals and bishops. So far it has had about 1,800 graduates. Annually not more than 12 young priests are admitted after careful selection. The Diplomatic Institute with the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has started cooperation with the Pontifical Academy.

There is still a lot to be done and even better conditions are to be provided for the Bulgarian scholars and researchers in Rome. The international prestige of the Bulgarian Cyril and Methodius Studies and in fact all humanities is to be raised. To this end we need a Bulgarian academic institution in Rome, we are among the few countries which still does not have a research centre in the Eternal City. We are making efforts to fill up this gap and create an institute named after St. St. Cyril and Methodius. This is not an easy task, but the need for it is felt quite tangibly and I do hope that in the not so distant future the project will become a reality.

You are a doctor of philosophy. It is known that you are writing a book Politics and Salvation. How do you combine the two lines in your career – of a scholar and a diplomat – and does it help you?
In the Vatican every policy is a religion, but we should not forget also that every religion is a policy. After spending these years in Rome, it was quite natural for me to try to benefit from the perspective it gives on the world of politics and reflect on the political-religious nexus of modern times. In the Vatican politics is made primarily with much brains and knowledge. Personally I don't see any contradiction between these “two lines in my career”, on the contrary, I think my academic interests of themselves help me in my activity. Thanks to them, I manage to take my bearings in the complex world of the Vatican, and be a worthy partner who knows how and what to say to everybody.

You represent Bulgaria in the Maltese Order. Please tell us about the major cultural and humanitarian initiatives you have taken part in.
Bulgaria has had diplomatic relations with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta since 1994 and the ambassador to the Holy See is accredited to it too. It's true, the Bulgarian public still knows little about the Maltese Order and many even mistake it for the state of Malta. Its existence is a precedent in international relations as it has no territory but it has sovereignty. This is due to the long and glorious history of the Maltese knights and clearly shows the great respect they have won on the world scene. Today their activity is mainly diplomatic and humanitarian.

Our relations are only budding but it is a promising beginning. In May 2005 President Georgi Parvanov visited Prince Andrew Bertie, Grand Master of the Order. In March 2006 the Grand Master will pay a return visit to Bulgaria. I am confident that then the prerequisites for a full-blooded cooperation will be created. I think it will be a good occasion to acquaint your readers with the history and the present of the Maltese Order.