VARITCAN CITY/ITALY/FILE: Piece of Berlin Wall at Vatican reminds of Pope John Paul II's fight against communism

Record ID: 470801

  • Title: VARITCAN CITY/ITALY/FILE: Piece of Berlin Wall at Vatican reminds of Pope John Paul II's fight against communism
  • Date: 9th November 2009
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (RECENT) (REUTERS) CHIEF OF THE VATICAN, SECRETARY OF THE POLISH DIOCESE IN ROME, PAWEL PTASZNIK, SAYING: "He said that communism fell because its ideology was wrong. Then the Lord - thanks to His providence - is responsible for putting the right men in the right place at the right chance moment to change the face of this world. I am also referring to the many politicians who have contributed to this event."
  • Embargoed: 24th November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,History
  • Reuters ID: LVA7OXPO449I3YCGX86NF4YLD0SD
  • Story Text: Since the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, segments of the wall have appeared in various locations around the world.
    One piece is now in the gardens of the Vatican.
    The wall segment was given to the Vatican by Marco Piccininni, the former sports director of car manufacturer Ferrari. He won the segment at an auction in Monte Carlo in 1990, gifting it to the Vatican in 1994.
    "To keep a piece of this Wall in the Vatican Gardens has a certain meaning, especially because it allows us to remember how the Church lived the reality of the division of Europe and, in particular, the division of the city of Berlin," the Vatican's chief spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told Reuters Television.
    "And how the Church was able to face this separation during the Pontificate of John Paul II by promoting a movement that finally brought the collapse of the Berlin Wall," he added.
    Polish-born John Paul II was widely seen as instrumental in the battle against communism in Poland and Eastern Europe.
    "He said that communism fell because its ideology was wrong," said Pawel Ptasznik, chief of the Vatican Secretary of the Polish diocese in Rome and a very close associate of John Paul II.
    "Then the Lord - thanks to His providence - is responsible for putting the right men in the right place at the right chance moment to change the face of this world. I am also referring to the many politicians who have contributed to this event," Ptasznik added.
    Such politicians included former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who visited John Paul II at the Vatican a month after the fall of the Wall.
    "We were all looking at Gorbachev and at his visit here with hope because of what he had done for the former Soviet Union - currently Russia. It seemed to be very, very important for the future," Ptasznik said.
    Germans will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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