Mikhail Gorbachev visited the Vatican

Mikhail Gorbachev, having changed the program of his visit to Italy, went from Genoa to Rome to participate in the presentation of the memoirs of the former Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, “The Martyrdom of Long-Suffering: The Holy See and the Communist Countries.” The book talks about the role of Mikhail Gorbachev in the fate of Russia. On June 27, Mikhail Gorbachev was received by Pope John Paul II. The meeting was private and lasted, according to the protocol established for such cases, 15 minutes. As Mikhail Gorbachev said after the meeting, the interlocutors agreed that political and religious leaders need to make further efforts to resolve existing and avoid new military conflicts of both a political and interreligious nature.