
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990                   TAG: 9003152699
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/8   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VATICAN CITY                                 LENGTH: Short

VATICAN TIES ESTABLISHED

The Vatican and the Soviet Union established official ties today for the first time since the 1917 Revolution.

The two sides have agreed to exchange representatives with the rank of ambassador extraordinary and apostolic nuncio. The ties fall short of full diplomatic relations. Vatican spokesman Joaquim Navarro described them as "pre-diplomatic relations."

The Vatican and Moscow had diplomatic relations under the Russian czars, but those ties were broken when the Communists came to power. The Soviets long disparaged religion, but President Mikhail Gorbachev has pledged to the pope that the Soviet Union would guarantee freedom of religion.

by CNB