Gorbachev’s death revives conversion suspicions

The Cold War momentarily made headlines on Tuesday with the passing of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the age of 91.

The flimsy allegations that the last leader of the communist and officially atheist Soviet Union was a Christian convert were rekindled by his passing.

Compared to the majority of his predecessors, Gorbachev had been more tolerant of religion. His “glasnost” or “perestroika” reformist ideals of openness and restructuring had a significant influence on Soviet social and economic freedom and helped lift certain oppressive restrictions on religious practise.

According to Reagan historian James Mann, Gorbachev’s Cold War foe U.S. President Ronald Reagan was fascinated with the notion that Gorbachev was a covert religious believer.

In March 2008, Gorbachev had to refute rumours that he had converted to Christianity.

According to a number of news sources, quoting the Italian news media, Gorbachev visited St. Francis of Assisi’s grave with his daughter Irina and knelt there for thirty minutes.

Former Soviet Union Communist Party leader Gorbachev categorically denied these allegations.

He told the Russian news agency Interfax that “for the past few days certain media have been spreading delusions — I can’t use any other term — about my hidden Catholicism, citing my visit to the Sacro Convento friary, where the bones of St. Francis of Assisi reside.” I have been and still am an atheist, just to be clear and prevent any misconceptions.

The Chicago Tribune stated in 2008 that he said he had not been a pilgrim but a tourist who had visited St. Francis’ grave.

He recognised the significance of religion in society and said he eagerly anticipates visiting Christian, Jewish, and Muslim houses of worship.

According to news reports, Gorbachev called St. Francis a “alter Christus,” which is Latin for “another Christ.”

The former Soviet leader purportedly said that St. Francis’ biography intrigued him and that his life’s narrative “had played a key part in my life.”

In response to the claims, a representative for the then-Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II said, “He is still on his journey to Christianity. If he shows up, we’ll be happy to have him.

In 1989, Gorbachev and his wife Raisa acknowledged that they had been baptised as Christians in the Russian Orthodox Church, although they presented this as a common family practise at the time of their conception. Their daughter was not baptised.

In 1999, Raisa passed away from cancer, and certain Russian Orthodox ceremonies were performed at her burial.

According to Reuters, she will be buried beside her husband at the Novodevichy Convent cemetery in Moscow.

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, and other prominent Russians are all buried here. Near the Kremlin walls in Red Square, most Soviet leaders are laid to rest.

As the first head of state from the Soviet Union to visit the Vatican, Gorbachev met with Pope John Paul II in December 1989.

John Paul II was a fervent supporter of the Polish people’s struggle against the Soviet Union’s communist rule.

At the age of 54, Gorbachev was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1985. He turned down the restrictive social and economic structure in the USSR while collaborating with other nations on problems like the elimination of nuclear weapons.

In 1990, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in putting an end to the Cold War. He assumed the newly formed position of Soviet Union president in the same year.

Gorbachev’s reforms, however, sparked a backlash from communist hardliners, who attempted a botched coup and temporarily placed him under house arrest in August 1991.

By opposing the attempt, Gorbachev’s political adversary and current president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, rose to prominence.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics split into fifteen different nations in the aftermath of the coup attempt. Gorbachev handed in his resignation as president in December.

In post-Soviet Russia, he played no significant role at all. He was often held responsible for the terrible, even fatal economic suffering that followed the fall of the Soviet Union.

Pope Francis sent a letter on Wednesday expressing his “heartfelt condolences” to Irina Gorbachev, the late Gorbachev’s daughter. He expressed his “spiritual proximity” to the bereaved.

The pope prayed for everlasting peace for his soul from the gracious and compassionate God, saying, “As we gratefully recall his far-sighted devotion to concord and fraternity among peoples, as well as to the growth of his own nation at a period of significant changes.