ABSTRACT
Following the death of Pius XII in late 1958 and the election of John XXIII, a change began to develop in Soviet-Vatican relations. The alteration evolved against the background of Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization and "peaceful coexistence," and the prolonged example of Tito's diminutive ill-treatment of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia. In Eastern Europe, the policy of de-Stalinization led Khrushchev to attempt to change the base of the Communist parties' power from Stalinist terror to popular support. Initially, he seemed to think Tito could serve as a model of liberalization and an object of popular support which the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe could emulate. The contact between Rome and Moscow, enjoined by the presence of Russian Orthodox Church observers at the opening session of the Second Vatican Council, took an unexpected turn in late October 1962 as the Cuban missile crisis unfolded.
