The Catholic Cathedral in Sofia. Monica reports that the Mass is said in Latin. The Cathedral is an ugly building dating from 2006. The original cathedral was destroyed by Allied bombers.
One of our guides told us a story about Bulgaria's participation in WWII. Parts of the story are true. Bulgaria was initially neutral. She said that after the Italians failed to take over Greece, Nazi Germany demanded that Bulgaria join the Axis and permit German forces to pass through Bulgaria to attack Greece in order to help Italy. If Bulgaria allowed the troops to pass through, the Germans would let Bulgaria alone. If the Bulgarians refused, the Germans would declare war and invade. The Bulgarian king, Boris, was reluctant but the threat of a German invasion, as well as the promise of Greek territories, led Bulgaria to agree to join the Axis. But when Germany attacked Russia, the Bulgarians did not want to declare war on Russia, because Russia might really do some harm to Bulgaria. So, to placate Germany, Bulgaria declared war on two far away countries -- England and the United States. Boris thought that this was clever because the United States was so far away and Bulgaria was so small that the United States would never find Bulgaria to attack it. Boris discovered he was wrong when the United States bombed Sofia into ruins.