Gorbachev Reportedly Wants to Meet Pope
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VATICAN CITY — Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev has written to Pope John Paul II to arrange a historic meeting between the two men and discuss troubled Vatican-Soviet relations, a senior Vatican official said Friday.
In Moscow, Soviet sources said Gorbachev is expected to visit Italy beginning Nov. 25. Italian officials have indicated Gorbachev may tour several cities.
A meeting between Gorbachev and Polish-born John Paul has been viewed as likely during the Soviet leader’s stop in Italy but there has been no confirmation by either side.
Such a meeting would be of historic proportions, the first between the leader of the world’s 850 million Roman Catholics and the head of a Soviet party that disparages religion.
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