The Vatican’s 45 greatest films

One of the Vatican's best movies

To mark the 100th anniversary of the cinematic art form in 1995, the Vatican took on the monumental responsibility of selecting 45 of the greatest cinematic masterpieces made in an entire century of beautiful filmmaking. In order to select films that reached new artistic heights as well as the ones which help spread the values of the church, the Vatican decided to divide the selection into three distinct categories – religion, value and art. By doing so, they judged varying cinematic outputs on the basis of religious value, moral value and artistic value.

   Religion
o    Andrei Rublev (1966)
o    Babette’s Feast (1987)
o    Ben-Hur (1959)
o    The Flowers of St. Francis (1950)
o    Francesco (1989)
o    The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1966)
o    La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ (1905)
o    A Man for All Seasons (1966)
o    The Mission (1986)
o    Monsieur Vincent (1947)
o    Nazarin (1958)
o    Ordet (1955)
o    The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
o    The Sacrifice (1986)
o    Therese (1986)
Values
o    Au Revoir les Enfants (1988)
o    Bicycle Thieves (1949)
o    The Burmese Harp (1956)
o    Chariots of Fire (1981)
o    Dekalog (1988)
o    Dersu Uzala (1975)
o    Gandhi (1982)
o    Intolerance (1916)
o    It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
o    On the Waterfront (1954)
o    Rome, Open City (1945)
o    Schindler’s List (1993)
o    The Seventh Seal (1957)
o    The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
o    Wild Strawberries (1957)
Art
o    Citizen Kane (1941)
o    8½ (1963)
o    Fantasia (1940)
o    Grand Illusion (1937)
o    La Strada (1954)
o    The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
o    The Leopard (1963)
o    Little Women (1933)
o    Metropolis (1927)
o    Modern Times (1936)
o    Napoleon (1927)
o    Nosferatu (1922)
o    Stagecoach (1939)
o    2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
o    The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Invitation

A poster in Gibraltar issued by the tourist board read: ‘Gibraltar has been under the British for 192 years. Isn’t it about time that you spend some time with us?’ Now imagine if the Good Lord would make a poster at the entrance of each city or town that would read something like this: ‘I’ve been with you for 2022 years.... Isn’t it about time that you come and spend some time with me in church?’

Remember that Jesus is the Unseen Guest at every meal we share, and the Silent Listener to every conversation that we are involved in.

Let us honor Him with our presence.

More quotes from the Queen - part 2

Images of the Queen as they appeared on British currency.

Here are a few more quotes from Queen Elizabeth relating to religion and her deep faith in Christianity.

“None of us can slow the passage of time; and while we often focus on all that has changed in the intervening years, much remains unchanged, including the Gospel of Christ and his teachings.”

“Each day is a new beginning, I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God.”

“Grief is the price we pay for love.”

“Over the years, those who have seemed to me to be the happiest, contented and fulfilled have always been the people who have lived the most outgoing and unselfish lives.”

“It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.”

“It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult.”

“We may hold different points of view, but it is in times of stress and difficulty that we most need to remember that we have much more in common than there is dividing us.”

“We know the reward is peace on earth, goodwill toward men, but we cannot win it without determination and concerted effort.”

Quotes from the Queen - part 1

As the world continues to process the loss of Queen Elizabeth, we have time to reflect on the wisdom she acquired over her 96 memorable years. From Christmas messages to public addresses, the Queen was always inspired by her faith, family, and the duty she felt to God and her country. So, take a look at just some of these pearls of wisdom, and consider how they might inspire you in your own life. Not to overwhelm you, I’ll divide this post in two parts. So more tomorrow.

“Throughout my life, the message and teachings of Christ have been my guide and in them I find hope. It is my heartfelt prayer that you will continue to be sustained by your faith in times of trial and encouraged by hope in times of despair.”

“When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.”

“My husband has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years, and I owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim.”

 “When peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.”

“Our modern world places such heavy demands on our time and attention that the need to remember our responsibilities to others is greater than ever.”

“Even when your life seems most monotonous, what you do is always of real value — and importance to your fellow men.”

“For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, … is an inspiration and an anchor in my life.”

The Two Elizabeths

Elizabeth II (1926-2022) and Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

Both Elizabeths reigned for a long time. Elizabeth I reigned for 45 years while Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years. The other Elizabeth, 400 years earlier, became queen of a country ripped apart by religious battles: her father, Henry VIII, had broken with Rome – its power and its faith – and declared himself CEO of an upstart religious institution – the Church of England. Her mother was Ann Boleyn, who was beheaded when her daughter was only 3 years old – so she never really knew her.

Elizabeth II was born in 1926, two years before all women could vote on equal terms with men. Growing up in a house in Piccadilly, overlooking Green Park, she did not expect to be queen, and she was dismayed to become queen so young. She only became queen because her uncle Edward abdicated to marry an American woman. That meant leaving behind the ordinary pleasures of a happy marriage, out of the public eye. But, as she had said in a remarkable speech in 1947, when she turned 21: “My whole life, whether it be short or long, will be devoted to your service.”

I go back to the speech Elizabeth I made in 1601, addressing the palace council chamber, her last speech before her death:

It is not my desire to live or reign longer than my life and reign shall be for your good. And though you have had, and may have, many mightier and wiser princes sitting in this seat, yet you never had, nor shall have, any that will love you better.

This is how many millions feel, I think, at the loss of Queen Elizabeth II.

More Quotes

No person in the world ever attempted to wrong another without being injured in return - some way, somehow, sometime. (William George Jordan)

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them - that’s the essence of inhumanity. (George Bernard Shaw)

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are: something to do, something to love and something to hope for.   (Joseph Addison)

God did not make us to be eaten up by anxiety, but to walk erect, free, unafraid in a world where there is work to do, truth to seek, love to give and win.  (Joseph Fort Newton)

I accept life unconditionally.....Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don’t set any conditions. (Arthur Rubinstein)

My mission on earth is to recognize the void - inside and outside of me - and fill it. (Rabbi Menahem)

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. (Liane Cordes)

We should have much peace in our lives if we would not busy ourselves with the sayings and doings of others. (Thomas a Kempis)

Blessed are those who can give without remembering and receive without forgetting. (Anonymous)

When we do what we can, God will do what we can’t.

If God is kept outside, something is wrong inside.

Be grateful for the doors of opportunity - and for friends who oil the hinges.

Photos from a procession

Here are a few photos I took last Thursday of the procession of Our Lady of Victory, the Nativity of the Blessed Mother, held in Naxxar, Malta. Incidentally they were taken when the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth was being announced. The first photo, one of my favorites, shows the statue of Mary as it approached another statue erected in the front of the local Peace Band Club, as if the two Queens of Heaven are talking about welcoming an earthly Queen. I waited to take this shot as the statue-bearers stopped briefly, enough to allow me to take this photo. 

The second photo shows the same statue in front of the beautiful Baroque church, recently restored. The procession is held annually on the 8th of September in two other parishes in Malta, Senglea, Mellieħa and in Xagħra in the sister island of Gozo. They were not held over the last 2 years because of the coronavirus. The third photo shows the facade of the church itself, lit up with hundreds of little colored lights. The festa season is now coming to an end, and only major feast left is the one in Cospicua on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Lest we forget

This is an article I wrote 21 years ago in my parish Bulletin:

It is truly heart-breaking following the events of September 11, 2001! All we can do right now is pray, as we follow the aftermath of the catastrophic tragedy on TV. People have been crowding to our Churches, as Friday the 14th is a National Day of Prayer and Mourning for the victims. The rest of the world joined in solidarity and prayer, and the whole of the United States is grateful for the world-wide support that we're receiving right now. The heart-breaking stories we're hearing are truly incredible....like the man from Fishkill who was buried but was able to get out alive, with minor scratches. Or the CEO of Cantor-Fitzgerald who lost all 658 of his employees who were on the very top floors of one of the Twin Towers, including his brother. He survived simply because he took his daughter to her first day of Kindergarten, and was heading towards work when the tragedy happened. Or the young woman who called her husband in California frantically just before she died, leaving simply a message "They bombed us. I'm going to die. I love you always." Or the Fire Department Chaplain Fr Mychal Judge OFM, who was administering last rites when he was hit by a falling body and other debris. Or so many others who were writing E-mails or sending Instant Messages while the planes crashed into their buildings.
Or the people who died on the planes, like the Priest from Massachusetts, who just found a last-minute seat to go and see his sister in Los Angeles, only to die half-an hour later. Or the three children with their teachers who had won a National Geographic Competition and were experiencing part of their reward on the plane.

A drawing I created having Mary and Jesus replacing the Twin Towers

The feelings of people here had changed from disbelief to shock on the first day, from anger to numbness on Wednesday, from patriotism and prayer to unity and collaboration today and in the weeks to come. In the midst of all this chaos and darkness, we cannot give up hope. As the motto of the Christophers says, "we have to light one candle instead of cursing the darkness." We have to look for something positive, instead of criticizing how terrible everything around us is. We have to look forward to continuing to unite the country and the world, not be divisive by searching for opportunity for revenge. May God continues to bless the generous and hardworking firefighters, police-officers, volunteers and medical teams who are helping with the recovery process, which could be very long, tiring and extremely discouraging.
May God give eternal rest to all the victims, and strength to their families and loved ones. These are the new American Martyrs, or better yet, the New York Martyrs, whose feast should be inserted in the Liturgical Calendar for September 11th.

Lady Diana's prayer

Staying with the Royal family, many people may not know that when Lady Diana visited Mother Teresa just a few weeks before they both died in 1997, she wrote a prayer which is very sincere and touching. You can see in this post both the original hand-written copy of Diana's prayer and the prayer transcribed here since it is not very legible, and also cropped up. The prayer is like a promise or resolution she made after encountering the living saint in her convent in the Bronx, NY.

I would be true for there are those who trust me.

I would be pure for there are those who care.

I would be strong for there is much to suffer.

I would be brave for there is much to dare.

I would be friend of all, the foe, the friendless.

I would be giving and forget the gift.

I would be humble, for I know my weakness.

I would look up and laugh and love and live!

The Queen leaves on the Queen’s feast

Queen Elizabeth II - during her coronation and at Parliament

The Queen of Heaven was honored yesterday on the feast of the birth of the Blessed Mother – and on the same day the most popular Queen on earth leaves us at the age of 96. So much has been written already and more will be printed and cyberspaced over the next few weeks, but I highlight her deep spiritual faith in this post. Elizabeth had a profound personal Christian faith — a faith she publicly articulated more frequently as she got older. Just a few months ago, for her services rendered as supreme governor of the Church of England, she was awarded the Canterbury Cross, to mark her Platinum Jubilee. But Elizabeth II, more than any other monarch, has embodied the title ‘Defender of the Faith.’ Each year of her reign, she has made a broadcast at Christmas, shown on television and broadcast on radio — a tradition started by her grandfather George V when the wireless first became popular, and continued by her father, George VI. Since the turn of the century, she made her message increasingly personal and explicit about her own faith.  In 2000 came a marked change when she spoke of the millennium being the moment that marked the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, "who was destined to change the course of our history.” She went on to speak very personally and frankly about her own faith: "For me, the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example." In 1947, to mark her 21st birthday, then Princess Elizabeth, made a public commitment, saying: "I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service. ... God help me to make good my vow."

Queen Elizabeth with her immediate family a few weeks ago.

Throughout her reign, Elizabeth led the nation at regular services, to honor the war dead, or for thanksgiving for her jubilees. Each year at the traditional Maundy Thursday service, she distributed gifts to elderly people at an ancient royal ceremony established to imitate Christ serving his disciples by washing their feet and turn the spotlight on the monarch's role of service. Elizabeth II was instrumental in improving relations between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, making many visits to the Vatican to visit different Popes and hosting both John Paul II in 1982 and Benedict XVI in 2010 on visits to Britain, while herself visiting Pope Francis in 2014 at the Vatican. No other British monarch, even before the Reformation, had ever done so and the papal visits to Britain and her personal welcome were a remarkable turnaround for a monarchy that once broke so spectacularly from Rome.  Just how much her Christian faith meant to Elizabeth II was revealed in a small book published to mark her 90th birthday in 2016. In a highly unusual move, she wrote the forward to the Bible Society publication, ‘The Servant Queen and the King she serves,’ about her faith. May Elizabeth II rest in peace, hoping that she can now meet the Queen of Heaven, on whose feastday she departed this earth.

With Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2014.

The birth of Mary

Today we celebrate the feast of the birthday of the Blessed Mother. She was conceived in St Anne’s womb on December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and to follow the duration of a human pregnancy, the church celebrates her birth date today, exactly 9 months later. Many countries, including Italy and Spain as well as Malta celebrate this holy day with images and statues of the baby Mary, although the statues venerated in Malta are that of a young girl, all of which known as Maria Bambina (the little child Mary.) In Malta we also commemorate the occasion of two major victories at war. The first one was the victory of the Maltese and the Knights of Malta against the Turks, the Ottoman Empire in 1565, and the second one was the end of Fascism and Nazism at the height of World War II, a time of terrible suffering for the Maltese people. The picture shows the statue that will be out in procession this evening in my new hometown of Naxxar, a procession that has been cancelled the past two years.

The Lady and the Saint

As we just commemorated the death of both Mother Teresa and Lady Diana this past week, it’s interesting to note that they had a special admiration for each other. Lady Diana visited Mother Teresa in Calcutta in 1992, and was given a tour of the Sister’s convent, but did not see each other on that occasion. However in June of 1997, Lady Diana visited New York and went to one of the houses run by the Missionary Sisters of Charity in the Bronx, and met personally Saint Teresa as you can see in the video shown hereunder. She also had written a little note which was discovered later on, on her experience of meeting the living saint in 1992. In the note she wrote to her confidante butler Paul Burrell, ”Today something very profound touched my life – I went to Mother Teresa’s home in Calcutta, and found the direction I’ve been searching for all these years. The sisters sang to me on arrival, a deeply spiritual experience and I soared to such great heights in my spirit. The light shone from within these ladies, saints for want of a better word, such love came from their eyes and their touch was full of warmth. They sang the Lord’s Prayers and with our shoes off we prayed together on our knees.” Who would have known that a few weeks later, they would both be dead!

Meaningful Quotes

Don’t worry about the future; the present is all we have -The future will soon be present; and the present will soon be past!  (Anonymous)

The attributes of a great lady may still be found in the rule of the four S’s:

SINCERITY - SIMPLICITY - SYMPATHY – SILENCE    (Emily Post)

Doing an injury puts you below your enemy.

Revenging one makes you but even with him.

Forgiving him sends you and sets you above him.     (Benjamin Franklin)

Fatherly and motherly hearts often beat warm and wise in the breasts of bachelor uncles and maiden aunts; and it is my private opinion that these worthy creatures are a beautiful provision of nature for the cherishing of other people’s children.     (Louisa May Alcott)

One often learns more from ten days of agony than ten years of contentment.      (Marle Shain)

I have learned silence from the talkative; tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind. I should not be ungrateful to those teachers.     (Kahlil Gibran)

The larger our faith, the smaller our fears; the greatest our trust, the lesser our doubts; the stronger our belief, the weaker our worries.    (William Arthur Ward)

If you want to be appreciated, make yourself rare.    (Anonymous)

A good woman inspires a man; a brilliant woman interests him; a beautiful woman fascinates him; and a sympathetic woman gets him.     (Helen Rowland)

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.   (G.K. Chesterton)

Friendships multiply joys and divide griefs.

Prayer of Mother Teresa

                  
Besides today being the liturgical feast of St Teresa of Calcutta, today we celebrate also her 25th anniversary of her death. Born on August 27, 1910, she died on September 5, 1997, a few days after Lady Diana, whom she had just met in New York a few months prior to their deaths. I share with you a prayer she wrote, one of the man simple, yet meaningful prayers she left us.

You are the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased.

You are the Son of Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit in her virginal womb.

You were born in Bethlehem. You were wrapped in swaddling clothes by Mary,

and placed in a manger filled with straw. You are an ordinary man without much education,

and the educated class in Israel judges you.

Jesus is: the word made flesh.....the bread of life,

the victim immolated for our sins on the cross,

the sacrifice offered for the sins of the world and for my sins in the Holy Mass,

the word to be proclaimed,..... the truth to be revealed,

the way to be followed,..... the light to illumine,..... the life to be lived,

the love to be loved,..... the hungry person to be fed,

the thirsty person given drink,.....the naked one to clothe,

the homeless to receive shelter,.....the sick to be cured,

the abandoned to be loved,....the outcast to be welcomed,

the leper whose wounds are bathed,....the beggar to whom a smile is given,

the drunkard who needs to be listened to,

the mentally disturbed who needs to be protected,

the infant who needs to be held in our arms,

the blind person who needs to be led by the hand,

the mute for whom someone must speak,

the crippled with whom one walks,.....the drug addict who needs help,

the prostitute who needs to be taken off the street and listened to,

the prisoner who needs to be visited,

the aged person who needs to be taken care of.

Pope John Paul I beatified

Blessed Pope John Paul I (1912-1978)

The smiling Pope who reigned for a mere 33 days will be beatified today at the Vatican. Albino Luciani became Pope John Paul I in a surprising move that saw him combine the name of his two predecessors as a chosen name for a Pontiff. It was the first time that this name was chosen just as it was surprising for Jorge Bergoglio to choose Francis. Born on October 17, 1912 in Canale d’Agordo, Belluno, Italy, he was ordained to the priesthood on July 7, 1935, and was consecrated as Bishop on December 27, 1958, and made Cardinal on March 5, 1973 by his predecessor St. Paul VI. He had served as Bishop of Vittorio Veneto between 1958 and 1969, and Cardinal Patriarch of Venice between 1969 and 1978. John Paul I was regarded as a skilled communicator and writer. His book Illustrissimi, written while he was a cardinal, is a series of letters to a wide collection of historical and fictional persons. Among those still available are his letters to Jesus, King David, Figaro the Barber, Empress Maria Teresa, Pinocchio, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Christopher Marlowe. In his brief pontificate, John Paul I impressed people with his personal warmth. He died on September 28, 1978 at the Vatican.

To read a funny section of one of his letters to Hippocrates, from Illustrissimi, click here in one of my previous posts:

http://dungiljan.blogspot.com/2017/09/characters-and-temperaments.html

Saint Gregory the Great

Gregorian Chant by the Monks of Solesmes, France

St. Gregory, whose feast we celebrate today, was born at Rome about the year 540. He was the son of Gordianus, a wealthy senator, who later renounced the world and became one of the seven deacons of Rome. His mother was St Silvia. After Gregory had acquired the usual thorough education, Emperor Justin the Younger appointed him, in 574, Chief Magistrate of Rome, though he was only thirty-four years of age. After the death of his father, he built six monasteries in Sicily and founded a seventh in his own house in Rome, which became the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew. Here, he himself assumed the monastic habit in 575, at the age of thirty-five. After the death of Pelagius, St. Gregory was chosen Pope by the unanimous consent of priests and people. Now began those labors which merited for him the title of Great. His zeal extended over the entire known world, he was in contact with all the Churches of Christendom and, in spite of his bodily sufferings, and innumerable labors, he found time to compose a great number of works. He is known above all for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. The mainstream form of Western plainchant, standardized in the late 9th century, was attributed to Pope Gregory I and so took the name of Gregorian chant. Gregory wrote over 850 letters in the last 13 years of his life (590–604) that give us an accurate picture of his work. He is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. He died on March 12, 604. St Gregory is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers. Please do listen to some of the best Gregorian Chants on record by the world-famous monks of St. Benedict of Solesmes, in France - just click the above link, and keep it in the background while you do some good reading.

Interesting Trivia

                        
The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year.

It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!

Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years.

Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end .

Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals.

Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.

The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean.

The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.

In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.

The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.

When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight.

In ancient times strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed.

Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside.

Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down.

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022)

Mikhail Gorbachev, who set out to revitalize the Soviet Union but ended up unleashing forces that led to the collapse of communism, the breakup of the state and the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday, August 30 at the age of 91 after a long illness. Though in power for less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breath-taking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation. He was a man of  remarkable vision who had the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it. The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people. Soon after taking power, Gorbachev began a campaign to end his country’s economic and political stagnation, using “glasnost,” or openness, to help achieve his goal of “perestroika,” or restructuring. He was in Malta for the famous Malta summit in December of 1989, which ended the cold war and heralded a period of peace, soon after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. His eventual decline was humiliating. His power hopelessly sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later. Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his later years collecting accolades and awards from all corners of the world. Yet he was widely despised at home. Many Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations, re-structuring in the process the Eastern European geographic map.. Gorbachev never set out to dismantle the Soviet system. He wanted to improve it. In his memoirs, he said he had long been frustrated that in a country with immense natural resources, tens of millions were living in poverty.

Gorbachev with his wife and Pope St. John Paul II

Once he began, one move led to another: He freed political prisoners, allowed open debate and multi-candidate elections, gave his countrymen freedom to travel, halted religious oppression, reduced nuclear arsenals, established closer ties with the West. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born March 2, 1931, in the village of Privolnoye in southern Russia. By age 15, he was helping his father drive a combine harvester after school and during the region’s blistering, dusty summers. His performance earned him the order of the Red Banner of Labor, an unusual distinction for a 17-year-old. That prize and the party background of his parents helped him land admission in 1950 to the country’s top university, Moscow State. There, he met his wife, Raisa Maximovna Titorenko, and joined the Communist Party. He was elected to the powerful party Central Committee in 1971, took over Soviet agricultural policy in 1978 and became a full Politburo member in 1980. It wasn’t until March 1985, when Chernenko died, that the party finally chose a younger man to lead the country: Gorbachev. He was 54. 

Medal issued for the Malta summit in December 1989

Starting in November 1985, Gorbachev began a series of attention-grabbing summits with world leaders, especially U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, which led to unprecedented, deep reductions in the American and Soviet nuclear arsenals. Gorbachev also spoke out against Putin's invasion of Ukraine. A day after the Feb. 24 attack, he issued a statement calling for an early cessation of hostilities and immediate start of peace negotiations. “There is nothing more precious in the world than human lives. Negotiations and dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and recognition of interests are the only possible way to resolve the most acute contradictions and problems,” he said. Let us not underestimate the close relationship that he had with St. John Paul II, who con-currently was dismantling Communism form his native Poland.