Prof. Hristo Tutunarov: The attack on Sergey Antonov is not from the Vatican

The topic of the Catholic Church in Bulgaria and the Cold War war is discussed in his latest book by Prof. Hristo Tutunarov, lecturer at the University of Library Science.

He is an Eastern Rite Catholic, they are jokingly called “Orthodox Catholics”, but that is not the reason for the book, he explained in an interview with BNR.

“Rather, the reason is that the problems I deal with are security, intertwined with some historical events and with history as a science. The reason for this book of mine is due to the fact that too little is known about the Catholics in Bulgaria, said Prof. Tutunarov.

And he added: There is a connection between religion and the Cold War, and ties to the secret services, and politics - Western and Eastern, and intelligence, that deserves interest. Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the repression of Orthodox Christians during the totalitarian period of Bulgaria. Catholics and other faiths also deserve attention. But it should not be forgotten that there was also interest from the West – operational events, actions along religious lines, including Catholic ones.

Prof. Tutunarov recalled Evgeni Bosilkov and told that during the Stalinist period, the DS offered him a deal - to secede the Catholic Church in our country from the Vatican and create a local one, promising him that he would keep all privileges. Evgeni Bosilkov refused and as a result other Catholics were also arrested. His death sentence carried out on November 11, 1952, shot. All this was hidden and officially came to light in 1999

The author of the Catholic Church in Bulgaria and the Cold War commented that Sergey Antonov, accused of the attack on Pope John Paul II, became a victim of geopolitics and the struggles between the East and the West.

“There was a thesis that the defeat of Antonov and the other Bulgarians and Bulgaria in general was due to the fact that during the Cold War Bulgaria maintained good relations with the Vatican,“ added the university professor.

“The defeat of Antonov is not from the Vatican, but from organizations – one is not ecclesiastical, and the other is across the Atlantic and has nothing to do with the Catholic Church, but with geopolitics, Assoc. Tutunarov is convinced.