Religion was one of the basic enemies of the totalitarian state and the people who refused to give up religion were subjected to persecution. Despite all attempts a lot of bold Bulgarian citizens did not give in and did not give up their faith and the right to freely profess their religion. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said at the opening ceremony of the monument of St. Pope John Paul II in the town of Belene,  where the Apostolic Nuncio Monsignore Anselmo Guido Pekorari was in Bulgaria.

Today in the town tribute was paid to the Bulgarian Martyrs Evgeni Bosilkov, Kamen Vichev, Pavel Dzhidzhov, Yosafat Shishkov, who Pope John Paul II declared worthy of worship, martyrs of faith, victims of the communist regime.

“Here in the hometown of the worthy of worship Evgeni Bosilkov, a couple of meters away from the most awful prison of the repressive totalitarian regime, this monument will stand as the eternal symbol of faith and good,” the Head of State said in his statement. The President highlighted the important role Pope John Paul II played in the fight of millions of East-Europeans for freedom and dignity.

The Head of State recalled the Pope’s boldness and his words uttered to the then incumbent government of Poland: “I have the feeling that the whole country has become a concentration camp.” Generations of East-Europeans lived with this feeling, the President said.

The Head of State said that with their personal experiences the worthy of worship Evgeni Bosilkov, Kamen Vichev, Pavel Dzhidzhov, Yosafat Shishkov are among those Bulgarians whose ruined lives are powerful symbols of the blasphemous times. “I believe that the truth about the communist regime should be remembered. However I even more sincerely and strongly believe that we should narrate the experiences of the people who did not choose resignation but dignity,” the Head of State said.

After opening the monument, in the churchyard of the Birth of the Sacred Virgin Mary church, President Plevneliev laid flowers in front of the monument of the catholic priest Evgeni Bosilkov, born in Belene and declared worthy of worship by Pope John Paul II in 1998. The Head of State also saw the exhibition “Bulgaria 1949-1989. The Forbidden Truth,” presented in the Youth Center in the churchyard.