(Vatican Radio) Voters in Bulgaria were choosing on Sunday a new president who will likely have to face an expected rise in migrantsfleeing war and poverty from neighboring Turkey and growing tensions between Russia and the West. For the first time, voting was compulsory forthe country's 6.8 million eligible voters, but none of the 21 candidates was expected to win the required 50 percent of the vote to win, promptinga presidential runoff later on November 13.Listen to Stefan Bos' report Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, a former bodyguard with a black belt in karate, appeared upbeat as he cast hisballot: Polls showed his center right GERB party's presidential candidate Tsetska Tsacheva, who is 58, was seen the front runner in Sunday'selectron.Yet to become the first female president of this country of 7.2 million people, Tsacheva must defeat the 53-year-old opposition Socialistcontender Rumen Radev, a former fighter pilot and Bulgarian air force chief.I...
(Vatican Radio) Voters in Bulgaria were choosing on Sunday a new president who will likely have to face an expected rise in migrants
fleeing war and poverty from neighboring Turkey and growing tensions between Russia and the West. For the first time, voting was compulsory for
the country's 6.8 million eligible voters, but none of the 21 candidates was expected to win the required 50 percent of the vote to win, prompting
a presidential runoff later on November 13.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report
Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, a former bodyguard with a black belt in karate, appeared upbeat as he cast his
ballot: Polls showed his center right GERB party's presidential candidate Tsetska Tsacheva, who is 58, was seen the front runner in Sunday's
electron.
Yet to become the first female president of this country of 7.2 million people, Tsacheva must defeat the 53-year-old opposition Socialist
contender Rumen Radev, a former fighter pilot and Bulgarian air force chief.
If Tsacheva is elected, she is widely expected to continue the pro-Europe foreign policy of outgoing president Rosen Plevneliev.
Her main opponent is seen as more sympathetic to Russia.
RUSSIAN TIES
Radev has repeatedly said he would comply with Bulgaria's European obligations but has called for better relations with Moscow and called for
lifting sanctions against Russia, arguing that "being pro-European does not mean being anti-Russian."
At the same time, the new president is expected to face a new influx of especially Syrian refugees from neighboring Turkey, putting additional
pressure in what is the European Union's poorest member state.
The political battle about the political direction and future of this Balkan nation, once a close ally of the Soviet Union,
comes amid public outrage over corruption and Western style reforms.
That's why the front runners still face a challenge from nationalist backed candidate Krasimir Karakachanov. "We are not going to a presidential campaign," he told supporters last week. "We are leaving for a battle for the liberation of Bulgaria! The liberation from the nihilism, from the corrupted and hatred political class, from the corruption and buying votes, foreign interference and poverty."
The spiritual shepherd of the Church in Singapore is Cardinal William Goh, archbishop since early 2013 and a cardinal since 2022. / Credit: Sean Boyce/EWTN NewsNational Catholic Register, May 3, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis recently announced his intention to travel to Southeast Asia in September to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. The island nation of Singapore is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse regions in Asia and is home to about 395,000 Catholics. The small but strategically important nation also has the highest urban density in Asia but is ranked as the country with the highest quality of life. Like everywhere else, it also faces the threats of secularism and relativism and a loss of traditional values, especially a commitment to family and respect for the elderly. The spiritual shepherd of the Church in Singapore is Cardinal William Goh, archbishop since early 2013 and a cardinal since 2022. He sat down in his res...
null / Credit: ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) released a pair of emergency rules that it said are aimed at combating "misinformation" and a "deeply dishonest scare campaign" by the Biden administration about the state's new six-week pro-life law. The rules, published on May 1, establish guidance for lifesaving measures and clarify that certain procedures, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies, are not considered abortion and remain legal under the Florida Heartbeat Protection Act, which went into effect on Wednesday. This comes amid significant criticism over the state's pro-life law that prohibits abortions on women after six weeks of pregnancy except for in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. The new AHCA rules further clarify those exceptions. "The agency finds there is an immediate danger to th...
Oviedo Archbishop Jesús Sanz Montes accused the government of focusing "in a biased and manipulative way on the problem of pedophilia as something attributable only to the Catholic Church." / Credit: Archdiocese of OviedoACI Prensa Staff, May 2, 2024 / 18:50 pm (CNA)."They have done it again. It is a kind of obsessive mantra every time they need a smokescreen to distract from the real problems we have and to which they so clumsily and insidiously apply their tortuous governance."That is how the archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz Montes, began a letter released this week titled "The Accusing Rattle" in which he responds to the socialist government's announcement of an exclusive plan to address sexual and power abuses committed within the Catholic Church.In the opinion of the prelate, the country's executive "has tried to focus in a biased and manipulative way on the problem of pedophilia as something attributable only to the Catholic Church, which represents an exclusive...