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Although he shares the same title as the chief U.S. diplomat, the Vatican Secretary of State is more like a Prime Minister, responsible not only for foreign policy but also for overseeing church headquarters at the Roman Curia, being the Vatican link to Catholic organizations and officials around the world, and even stepping in for the Pope if he falls ill or is unavailable. While Pope John Paul II's constant travels kept him somewhat separated from the workings of the Vatican bureaucracy, Benedict and Bertone are instead expected to work hand in hand on all matters, foreign and domestic...
DIED. Robert Drinan, 86, liberal Democrat from Massachusetts and the first Roman Catholic priest to become a voting member of Congress; in Washington. A staunch opponent of the Vietnam War, he was elected in 1970 (with the help of campaign aide John Kerry and the slogan "Father Knows Best"). He charmed, and sometimes cowed, colleagues with his clerical clothing--he said he had no other suits--and was the first to call for Richard Nixon's impeachment, over the U.S.'s secret bombing of Cambodia. He left politics in 1980, after Pope John Paul II ordered him to resign, citing...
...would be understandable if Bulgaria--ancient Roman annex, Ottoman Empire conquest, Soviet Union satellite--wasn't all that welcoming to foreigners. But there I was in Sofia, on my way to the public drinking fountains where locals fill up old Coke bottles with hot mineral water, when a lady pointed out that the bottle of wine I was carrying had broken through its plastic bag. I tucked the bottle back in as best I could and said thank you--good deed done, as far as I was concerned--but the woman kept cheerily talking in Bulgarian as she emptied...
...scene. The Balkan nation joined the European Union on Jan. 1, with blue flags waving in the streets on New Year's Eve, yet only in recent years have tourists ventured much beyond Black Sea beach towns and into the Ohio-size expanse of rose farms, medieval monasteries and Roman ruins. Visitors, especially Western Europeans, are flocking to ski resorts in the Rila and Pirin mountains and have even sparked a property boom in Bansko, where investors are scooping up cheap vacation homes. Meanwhile, low-cost labor, economic incentives and proximity to the rest of Europe are luring record levels...
...tourism industry here isn't exactly supersophisticated--the Sheraton's approach to wake-up calls, for example, is laissez-faire--but more amenities are popping up, including high-end hotels like Arena di Serdica, built around the ruins of a Roman amphitheater, and Grand Hotel Sofia, which overlooks the Sofia City Garden, the former Royal Palace (now an ethnographical museum) and the National Theater. The nicest rooms top $300 a night, after converting from the euros that most hotel rates are listed in, alongside the price in Bulgarian leva...