Ex-communist Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema (R) poses with his daughter Giulia (L) his wife Linda and his son Francesco together with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican January 8 during an historic meeting half a century after the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Marxists. The 78-year-old Polish Pontiff, a tireless crusader against communism, received D'Alema, who is not a believer and is the first former communist to become prime minister of Italy, at the Vatican with full pomp.

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