Beatification of Pope Paul VI Beatification of Pope Paul VI The cause for the canonization of Pope Paul VI, who died in 1978, commenced in 1993 and he was canonized on October 14, 2018. After having been proclaimed a Servant of God and declared Venerable, he was beatified on 19 October 2014, after the recognition of a miracle had been attributed to his intercession, and declared a saint by Pope Francis I on October 14, 2018. The postulator of the cause is Antonio Marrazzo while the vice-postulator is Antonio Lanzoni. On 18 March 1993 "nihil obstat" ("nothing against") was declared under Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II change in Soviet policy towards eastern Europe under Gorbachev; without that change, no velvet revolutions in 1989. In December 1989, John Paul II met with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Vatican and each expressed his respect and admiration for the other. Gorbachev once said "The collapse of the Iron Curtain would have been impossible without John Paul II." On John Paul II's death, Mikhail Gorbachev said: "Pope John Paul II's devotion to his followers is a remarkable example to all of us." On 4 June 2004 US President George W. Bush presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the