Europe - Vatican - Christianity - General

"Mikhail Gorbachev admits he is a Christian"

http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=28051&con=56&sec=56

By Malcolm Moore ("Telegraph", March 19. 2008)

Rome, Italy - Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Communist leader of the Soviet
Union, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a
surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.

Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his
knees in silent prayer at the tomb.

His arrival in Assisi was described as "spiritual perestroika" by La Stampa,
the Italian newspaper.

"St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, the other Christ," said Mr
Gorbachev. "His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my
life," he added.

Mr Gorbachev's surprise visit confirmed decades of rumours that, although he
was forced to publicly pronounce himself an atheist, he was in fact a
Christian, and casts a meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1989 in a new
light.