GREECE
ABC
A former foreign minister Karolos Papoulias has been sworn in as Greece's sixth president but several politicians boycotted the ceremony to protest the presence of the country's embattled spiritual leader.
Greece's new head of state, Karolos Papoulias, assumed the largely ceremonial post after being sworn in before Athens' 300-seat Parliament.
The 75-year-old politician becomes Greece's sixth president since the collapse of seven years of military rule in 1974.
In an unprecedented step, some parliamentarians stayed away from the ceremony to protest the presence of Archbishop Christodoulos, who as leader of the Greek Orthodox Church has been heavily criticised following a spate of sex and corruption scandals within its ranks.
Posted by kshaw at March 14, 2005 07:12 AM