Pope John Paul II has signed a decree to beatify and declare as martyrs three Bulgarian Catholic priests slain by communists in 1952 (popeinbulgaria.com). The pontiff would officially announce the beatifications — the last step before raising someone to sainthood — during his visit next month to Bulgaria, which is a predominantly Orthodox Christian country. The three include Kamen Vichev, Iosafat Shishkov and Pavel Dzhidzhov — Bulgarian Catholic clergymen who were executed after being convicted by a communist court of espionage. They were close to Evgeni Bosilkov, Bulgaria's Catholic leader at the time, who was sentenced to death in the same trial. The pope beatified Bosilkov five years ago.