During his seven-year tenure, he introduced key political and economic reforms to the USSR, the so-called “Peretrojka” (Reconstruction), and Glasnost (Transparency). The historic meeting with Pope St. John Paul II in 1989A political reformer, Gorbachev also chartered a new course in relations with the Holy See, putting an end to decades of religious persecutions against the Catholic Church in the former USSR. “It would be wrong for someone to claim that changes in Europe and the world should follow the Western model”, said St. Jonn Paul II. St. John Paul II reiterated these points in his official address to the Soviet leader. He met up again in Rome with St. John Paul II ten years later, on November 13 2000, on the occasion of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

Source: The Herald September 01, 2022 07:53 UTC