VATICAN (CNS): Former Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on August 30 in Moscow after a long illness, met several times with Pope St. John Paul II, and the two often exchanged words of appreciation for each other.
The two met in 1989 and again in 1990, when Gorbachev was still president of what was still the Soviet Union, and was introducing political and economic reforms in his country, as well as on other occasions. Both men were key in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who was papal spokesperson for St. John Paul II later called Gorbachev the most important figure in the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the wall in an article published on 5 November 2009, in La Repubblica, Navarro-Valls cited Pope John Paul’s support for the Polish labour union, Solidarity, as a key development in the pro-democracy movement in the region.
However he said that Gorbachev saw that the political movement in Eastern Europe was popular and unstoppable, and the he avoided military repression and even verbal opposition.
Navarro-Valls said that when Gorbachev first met with St. John Paul in December 1989, “Both clearly understood the direction that history had begun to take. Both felt that freedom was not a political fact but a human dimension that was essential and not able to be suppressed.”
Both clearly understood the direction that history had begun to take. Both felt that freedom was not a political fact but a human dimension that was essential and not able to be suppressed
Joaquin Navarro-Valls
A transcript of that meeting showed that there was broad agreement on the need for greater religious freedom in the Soviet Union, for a renewal of ethical and moral values, and for improved Catholic-Orthodox relations. They also agreed that at a time of upheaval in Eastern Europe, the region should not be expected to simply import Western values wholesale.
“It would be wrong for someone to claim that changes in Europe and the world should follow the Western model. This goes against my deep convictions,” the late pope said.
“Europe, as a participant in world history, should breathe with two lungs,” the pope added, using one of his favourite metaphors for harmony between East and West on the continent.
“That is a very appropriate image,” Gorbachev replied.
Pope John Paul pressed Gorbachev on the possibility of the Vatican and the Soviet Union exchanging diplomatic representatives, which he felt would aid in resolving religious freedom problems and other issues. Gorbachev responded positively, saying that “we approve such an approach” while cautioning against acting too quickly.
In the year that followed, Gorbachev followed through on several issues: The Soviet Union enacted a law to protect religious freedom, allowed the Ukrainian Catholic Church to come out from underground and welcomed a Vatican ambassador to Moscow.
After St. John Paul died in 2005, Gorbachev called him “the No. 1 humanist on the planet.”
It would be wrong for someone to claim that changes in Europe and the world should follow the Western model. This goes against my deep convictions
Pope St. John Paul II
Gorbachev, who was 91, was general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 and Soviet president from 1990 to 1991. At its height, the Soviet bloc included 15 countries in Eastern and Central Europe.
In 1988, Gorbachev welcomed a top-level Church delegation to Moscow for ceremonies commemorating the millennium of Christianity in the region.
In that period, the then-Vatican secretary of state, Agostino Cardinal Casaroli, summed up what Gorbachev meant to the Church: “We are always ready to dialogue. What was lacking was a partner. Now a partner exists.”
In 1990 the Soviet Union passed a freedom of religion law rolling back decades of communist restrictions on churches, religious instruction and freedom of association. It legalised the five-million-member Ukrainian Catholic Church and restored some of its churches and other properties.
Several bishops were named in Soviet republics with no interference from the government. The government extended an invitation for a papal visit —which has yet to occur—and policy statements by officials indicated growing recognition that religion represents a cultural strength.
