Pope John Paul II, who helped speed the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, will attend a concert by the Russian Army choir to celebrate his 26th anniversary as head of the Roman Catholic Church.
The choir, orchestra and dance ensemble will perform Russian traditional songs and dances tonight for the 84-year-old pope and as many as 7,000 spectators in the Paul VI hall inside the Vatican in Rome. The pope, who surpassed Leo XIII to become the third-longest-reining pontiff since St. Peter, celebrates the anniversary tomorrow.
For more than a quarter century the pope has traveled the world to advocate a message of peace, human rights and reconciliation. He has denounced totalitarianism and has tried to close rifts with other faiths, even as his conservative views have also fueled division over policy toward birth control, AIDS and the role of women in the church. His trips, which took him to more than 120 countries, have been curtailed in recent years by the spread of Parkinson's disease.
``In a world afflicted by divisions and imbalances, your words point the way to the recovery of moral and spiritual values,'' Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said in a message to the pope. ``People of all faiths and cultures feel the need for your firm calls for solidarity.''
Among the anniversary presents the Pope will receive a special scale-model version of a Ferrari Formula One race car from Ferrari SpA Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. The car, made especially for the pope, will be a model of the championship-winning Formula One F2004.
The pope will also mark his anniversary with the publication of a collection of his speeches and writings on diplomacy. The book, entitled ``Pope John Paul II and the Challenges of Papal Diplomacy - Anthology (1978-2003),'' will be presented on Oct. 18th.
In the year John Paul II was elected Jimmy Carter was still in the White House, Spain approved a constitution after almost a 40-year dictatorship, Indira Gandhi was re-elected to the Indian Parliament and followers in Reverend Jim Jones carried out a mass suicide in Guyana.