Word: see
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...with Stalin's death in 1953. In 1981 Pope John Paul barely escaped assassination. It is believed in the highest circles of the Vatican that Gorbachev's Kremlin predecessors were the masterminds, though the Soviets deny this. The reason for the attack, claims a ranking official of the Holy See, was that the Polish Pope refused to accept the division of Europe into East and West. "The East bloc," says this official, "realized he was a destabilizing factor...
...previously used as an art museum, was restored for worship. This year the Belorussian republic got its first bishop in 63 years. That paved the way for Archbishop Angelo Sodano, who oversees the Vatican's foreign relations, to make the arrangements for Gorbachev's historic visit to the Holy See...
...church has been a mistake throughout the past 45 years," says Alojzy Orszulik, the Polish bishops' spokesman. The nation, which remains 95% Catholic, this year became the first in the Soviet bloc to enact a law restoring all basic rights to the churches. Diplomatic relations with the Holy See were established in July. Hungary, also rapidly liberalizing, is 60% Catholic and has sizable Lutheran and Reformed churches. The regime is rewriting the religious-control laws, has abolished the repressive state Office for Church Affairs and, after talks last week at the Vatican, has indicated that diplomatic relations will...
...from St. John to Puerto Rico, the hurricane stripped the voluptuous hills of every trace of green; it sent rooftops cartwheeling down the mountainsides and busted power lines and telephone poles, leaving the hillsides silent and dark. Given all this havoc, returning visitors these days will be amazed to see how quickly, riotously, the vegetation is growing back and how mightily residents have worked to clean up the mess...
Nature, however, may not repair so quickly. Tourists venturing east toward El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest System, will see the destruction firsthand. The 40-ft. leafy cathedral that vaulted over the roads is now open to the sun, and once lush reaches of forest are bare, broken and brown. In the hardest-hit areas, 60% of the hardwood trees are gone, including huge mahoganies, and many of the rare Puerto Rican parrots have disappeared...