FILE - Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte leads Palm Sunday liturgy at Alexander Newsky cathedral in Sofia, on Sunday, April 12, 2020. Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria, who was the first elected head of the Orthodox Church in the post-communist Balkan country, died at a hospital in Sofia, at age 78. The Orthodox Holy Synod said Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in a statement that the patriarch had been hospitalized for four months for lung ailments. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova, File) FILE PHOTO
