Sofia, Bulgaria ? Closing another chapter of the Cold War, Pope John Paul II began a visit to this former communist country once implicated in a 1981 attempt to kill him and assured the Bulgarian people he has “never ceased” to love them.

The frail 82-year-old pontiff flew in Thursday evening from Azerbaijan, appearing stronger and more alert than at the start of his pilgrimage two days ago.

An officer of the Bulgarian honor guard salutes in front of Pope John Paul II and Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov in front of St. Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church in Sofia, Bulgaria. The pope arrived Thursday in the former communist country for a four-day visit.

Far too weak to bend down and kiss the ground the traditional blessing whenever the pope visits a country for the first time John Paul instead kissed a basket of soil presented at a welcoming ceremony at St. Alexander Nevski Square.

He took a few brisk steps with a cane to a white and gold chair on the square, then stood through the Vatican and Bulgarian anthems, clutching the chair’s arms. Later, he sat hunched, occasionally lifting a steady hand to shield his face from the sunshine.

“The president is young, and that’s why he’s standing. He asked the pope to sit because the pope is old,” John Paul quipped in Italian after President Georgi Parvanov’s welcome speech.

“With deep joy I come to Bulgaria,” he said in a clear voice, drawing cheers from the crowd for speaking in Bulgarian. “I am thankful to Almighty God that he honored me by granting this wish of mine, which I held close to my heart.”

John Paul also praised Bulgarians for “your extraordinary contributions in saving thousands of Jews during World War II.” Although Bulgaria was allied with Germany during the war, the country’s king defied a Nazi order to deport Jews after thousands of Bulgarians massed in protest.

The pope’s visit is a historic first for Bulgaria, a mainly Orthodox nation of 8 million with just 80,000 Catholics. Many Bulgarians hoped it would finally dispel lingering suspicions that the country’s secret service was behind Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca’s attempt to kill the pope in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

“This visit will wipe out the undeserved taint Bulgaria has carried for the past 20 years,” Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi told reporters, calling the visit “a sign of blessing.”

John Paul made no direct mention of the assassination attempt, but he said his presence was a “clear sign of my sentiments of esteem and affection.”

“I say to all that I have never ceased to love the Bulgarian people, lifting them up always in my prayer to the Throne of the Most High,” the pope said in one of several lines of his speech read to the crowd by a Bulgarian priest. Many in the crowd applauded that passage.

An Italian court acquitted three Bulgarians charged with complicity in the shooting, citing lack of evidence.

Bulgarian agents had been suspected of working for the Soviet KGB, said at the time to have been alarmed by John Paul’s support for the Solidarity trade union in his native Poland.

The pope arrived from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, where earlier Thursday he lauded those who held out against communist repression and retained their faith.

In mostly Muslim Azerbaijan, which the Vatican says has a Roman Catholic flock of only 120, John Paul also reached out to the Orthodox Church with a message praising all believers for keeping the faith during years of communist persecution.

“You saw your religion mocked as mere superstition, as an attempt to escape the responsibilities of engagement in history. For this reason, you were regarded as second-class citizens and were humiliated and marginalized in many ways,” he said.

In Bulgaria, John Paul has meetings planned with the patriarch of Orthodox Christians and with top Jewish and Muslim religious leaders. He also plans to visit an Orthodox monastery near the town of Rila and hold an outdoor Mass in Plovdiv, the country’s second-largest city, before returning Sunday night to Rome.