Chicago Tribune: Gorbachev a closet Christian?
…The Italian newspaper La Stampa called his visit a "spiritual perestroika." A story in the London Daily Telegraph's March 19 edition concluded Gorbachev "has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time."
Since then, speculation has been building about the significance of the visit to Sacro Convento friary and his religious beliefs. So Gorbachev recently decided to set the record straight.
"Over the last few days some media have been disseminating fantasies—I can't use any other word—about my secret Catholicism, citing my visit to the Sacro Convento friary, where the remains of St. Francis of Assisi lie," Gorbachev told the Russian news agency Interfax. "To sum up and avoid any misunderstandings, let me say that I have been and remain an atheist." …
…"In Italy, he spoke in emotional terms, rather than in terms of faith," a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox patriarch Alexei II told the Russian media.
"He is still on his way to Christianity. If he arrives, we will welcome him."
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