Catholics in Bulgaria Celebrate Easter

On Sunday, Catholics around the world celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. Over 20,000 people in the Plovdiv region celebrate this day.

"Traditionally, the first egg for Easter is the red egg. The red color symbolizes the blood of Christ. And it is set aside for the house and kept until the next Easter when there is a legend that it predicts what the year will be like," says Diana Nacheva.

The preparation for Easter in the home of the Nachevi family from the Plovdiv village of Zhitnitsa has started since Holy Thursday with the painting of Easter eggs and the kneading of the butter cookies typical for Zhitnitsa. The family will follow the tradition of the obligatory presence of lamb at the festive table.

The family welcomes Christ's Resurrection with special excitement. Exactly 3 years ago at that time Ventsislav's deepest dream came true - to touch the Pope. The student has the honor of serving with the head of the Roman Catholic Church during his liturgy in Rakovski. Then, holding a picture of Pope Francis, he asked him for an autograph and something unusual happened.

"I had prepared this card, I held it in my hands with the marker. People around me told me that he would pass me, that he would not sign for me. But then, after he passed me, he noticed me. Come to me," Ventsislav Markov remembers this exciting day.

"The marker was not used before. He used it on my forehead. Then he signed the card. I had never experienced such a moment in my life. Something happened to me. I couldn't stand on my feet," Ventsislav said of his meeting with Pope Francis.

Since then, every Easter brings him back to this memory. He also looks at the pope's personal gift to him - a rosary that the young man keeps to...