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Vatican Official Recalls Work in Secretariat of State as Berlin Wall Fell Rome, November 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) H. Sergio Mora | 239 hits

Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, currently president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, was an official of the Vaticans Secretariat of State on Nov. 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell.

He shares his memories of that event.

ZENIT: Where were you and how did you receive the news of the fall of the Berlin Wall?

Cardinal Tauran: That year I was under-secretary for Relations with States; I was in that role from 1988 to 1990, and secretary from 1990 to 2013. I was on vacation in my home in

ZENIT: Whoever authorized the attack on John Paul II perhaps wished to avoid the fall of the Soviet empire.

Cardinal Tauran: Thats not known, although the message was clear: he was a Pope who annoyed -- and the speed of the events.

I always say that it was prepared by three things together: the Helsinki process that created a new philosophy of relations, with the Final Act of 1975; and Gorbachev and John Paul II, two providential men. These are the three things together.

ZENIT: And the Vaticans Ostpolitik?

Cardinal Tauran: It made its contribution in the measure that it enabled the silent Church to speak. Until the Pope of Krakow was elected, overcoming the silence

Excerpt from:
Cardinal Tauran: We Knew Communism Was Collapsing, But Not Like This