Pope deeply saddened by death of Patriarch Neofit of Bulgaria

By Vatican News

Pope Francis has expressed deep sorrow at learning of the passing of Patriarch Neofit of Bulgaria. The head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church died of a multi-organ failure on 13 March at the age of 78.  

Valued service to the Gospel and to dialogue

In a telegram sent on Friday, 15 March, to the Metropolitan Yoan of Varna and Veliki Preslav, Locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, the Pope remembered the “valued service to the Gospel and to dialogue” of His Holiness Neofit who had succeeded late Patriarch Maxim February 24, 2013, after his death in 2012.  

“Despite his many sufferings” said the Pope, he  “remained a man of humility and joy, an example of a life consecrated to the Lord and his Church”. 

“Thus, it is our prayerful hope that His Holiness Neofit is now living ‘where there is neither sorrow nor pain nor groaning’, he said.

Pope Francis concluded his message by assuring Meropolitan Yoan, the Holy Synod and all the members of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church “of a special remembrance in my prayers, that Jesus Christ, who ‘rose from the dead, conquered death by his death and gave us life’  may fill your hearts with consolation and peace.”

Patriarch Neofit had met with Pope Francis during his Apostolic Journey to Bulgaria in May 2019.