The Provincial Delegation in Bulgaria has some joyful news to share. On October 22, 2022, the liturgical memorial of St. Pope John Paul II, the Ave Maria radio station in Sofia, Bulgaria, will officially be launched.
The radio station was founded by the friars of the recently-opened friary in Sophia, Bulgaria’s capitol. His eminence, Cardinal Leonardo SANDRI, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, will preside over the inaugural ceremony. He will be flanked by the Vicar Provincial of the Province of the Immaculate Mother of God in Poland (Warsaw), Friar Mirosław BARTOS.
By opening this radio station, the friars hope to continue the work of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, the holy founder of Niepokalanów, whom God gave to the Order as an example of work completely devoted to the salvation of souls through the Immaculate Conception. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of the Knight of the Immaculata. The Ave Maria Catholic radio station can be seen as a votive offering in gratitude for the gift of St. Maximilian to the Order and to the Province of Warsaw, to which the Delegation belongs.
The building that houses the radio station is an important place for Bulgarian Catholics. Bishop Angelo RONCALLI, before he became St. Pope John XXIII, lived and worked in this building from 1925 to 1934, while he served as the Apostolic Visitor and the Apostolic Delegate to Bulgaria.
The date chosen to bless and inaugurate the radio station coincides with the liturgical memorial of St. Pope John Paul II. This year marks the 20th anniversary of his papal pilgrimage to Bulgaria. Therefore, the radio station will also be a sign of thanksgiving for his pontificate and presence in Bulgaria in 2002.|
We entrust the fruits of the radio broadcasts, and the further development of the radio station, to the Immaculate Conception, and we ask you to remember the station in your fraternal prayers.
The Friars of Bulgaria
