Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church elects a new patriarch with pro-Russian views

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church has elected a bishop considered to be pro-Russian as its new leader in a vote that reflected the divisions in the church and wider society since Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago. Unlike his late predecessor who criticized Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Daniil has taken the side of Russian patriarchs who refuse to recognize the   independence of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church. Growing divisions between pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions within the senior clergy began after some of them attempted to warm relations with the Ukrainian church. Daniil also criticized the expulsion last fall of a Russian and two Belarusian clerics accused of spying for Moscow.