When Pope John Paul II visited the southern Caucasus state of Georgia at the start of this month, he may have been received with little enthusiasm by the Orthodox church but he was welcomed with considerable delight by President Eduard Shevardnadze. Fresh from the success of his ruling "reformist" Citizens' Union party in the parliamentary elections at the end of October, Mr Shevardnadze's invitation to the leader of the Roman Catholic church was the latest in a series of events which gave the impression of a country ever more oriented towards the west....more
When Pope John Paul II visited the southern Caucasus state of Georgia at the start of this month, he may have been received with little enthusiasm by the Orthodox church but he was welcomed with considerable delight by President Eduard Shevardnadze. Fresh from the success of his ruling "reformist" Citizens' Union party in the parliamentary elections at the end of October, Mr Shevardnadze's invitation to the leader of the Roman Catholic church was the latest in a series of events which gave the impression of a country ever more oriented towards the west....
