Pope: Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, was a person who worked with revolutionary vision to create unity and brotherhood among peoples and for the development of his own country.
Joey Kariveli, Vatican City
The Pope mourned the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev died on Tuesday, August 30, aged 91, after a long illness.
In a message of condolence to his daughter Irina Gorbachev on Wednesday (31/08/22), Pope Francis commemorated Gorbachev’s revolutionary efforts to “forge unity and brotherhood among peoples and to advance his country in a period of significant change. The Pope prays to God for his mercy.”
Mikhail Gorbachev, who led the fall of the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War peacefully, became the President of the Soviet Union in 1985. He remained in office for 7 years until December 25, 1991, trying to democratize the Soviet Union and implementing “glasnost” or openness and “perestroika” or political, social and economic reform. Towards the end of his reign, each of the Soviet republics declared independence and the Soviet Union became 15 independent states.
Gorbachev is a 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner. He was born on March 2, 1931 in Prevoilne, southern Russia, and had been suffering from diabetes and kidney disease at the Central Clinic Hospital in Moscow since June 22.