内容摘要：revelers took over the streets of the Rhineland in western Germany, dancing, singing, drinking and showing off their colorful costumes.

revelers took over the streets of the Rhineland in western Germany, dancing, singing, drinking and showing off their colorful costumes.

It was once widely accepted that the most successful Eurovision songs were in English, but that is changing. This year’s contest features songs in a record 20 languages, including Ukrainian, Icelandic, Latvian, Maltese and Armenian.Vuletic said viewers these days want “more authenticity in Eurovision entries.

“They don’t just want a standard pop song sung in English,” he said. “They want to also see something about the culture of the country that the song represents.”Once all the acts have performed in the final, the winner is chosen by a famously complex mix of phone and online voters from around the world and rankings by music-industry juries in each of the Eurovision countries. As the results are announced, countries slide up and down the rankings and tensions build.Ending up with “nul points,” or zero, is considered a national humiliation.

The final starts Saturday at 1900 GMT (3 p.m. EDT) and will be aired by national broadcasters in participating nations, on streaming service Peacock in the United States and in many countries on theDuring and immediately after the final, viewers in participating countries can vote by phone, text message or the Eurovision app — but not for their own country. Viewers in the U.S. and other nonparticipating countries can vote all day Saturday, online at

or with the app. The combined “rest of the world” vote is given the weight of one individual country.

The contest’s motto is “united by music,” but the world’s divisions inevitably intrude.provided to Catholic News Service, the news agency of the U.S. bishops conference, featured Prevost’s address to the world Synod of Bishops against the backdrop of images from popular TV series and movies.

“Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel, for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia,” Prevost said.He singled out “how alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programs and cinema today.”

When he became a cardinal in 2023, Catholic News Service asked him if his views had changed.call for a more inclusive church, saying Francis “made it very clear that he doesn’t want people to be excluded simply on the basis of choices that they make, whether it be lifestyle, work, way to dress, or whatever.”