Gorbachev at the Tomb of St. Francis

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Shortly after the consecration of Russia and the world was finally completed in 1984, Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power in the Soviet Union. This is a story we all know. But there was something that some suspected that now has been finally confirmed.

Peter Robinson over at National Review gives us an account of a question he asked Gorbachev.

Whenever Ronald Reagan would mention his suspicion that Mikhail Gorbachev was a secret believer, everyone on the White House staff would scoff, thinking the president naive. When I had the opportunity to speak to Gorbachev a couple of years ago, however, I found myself concluding that Reagan had been onto something after all. Why, I asked, had Gorbachev refrained from putting down the revolution of 1989, just as Khrushchev had put down the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and Brezhnev had put down the Prague Spring of 1968? “Because of something I shared with Ronald Reagan,” Gorbachev replied. “Christian morality.”

From the UK Telegraph comes confirmation of Gorbachev’s Christianity and the role St. Francis played in his conversion.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi…”St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, the other Christ,” said Mr Gorbachev. “His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life,” he added…Mr Gorbachev, 77, was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church and his parents were Christians.

In addition, the parents of his wife Raisa were deeply religious and were killed during the Second World War for having religious icons in their home.

Ronald Reagan, the former United States president, allegedly told his close aides on a number of occasions that he felt his opponent during the Cold War was a “closet believer”.

Reagan was right. When the world on the precipice finally acceded to the Blessed Mother’s wishes, God provided a closet Christian to lead the most belligerent nation on earth to its demise.

The Lord works in mysterious ways.