Editing Ostpolitik (section)

===Vatican diplomacy===
''Ostpolitik'' is also the name given to the policies of [[Pope Paul VI]] (in office: 1963-1978) towards the Soviet Union and its [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern European satellite states]]. Trying to improve the condition of Christians in general and [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] in particular behind the Iron Curtain, he engaged in dialogue with Communist authorities at several levels, receiving Foreign Minister [[Andrei Gromyko]] and USSR head of state [[Nikolai Podgorny]] in 1966 and 1967 in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]]. The situation of the Church in [[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]], [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]] improved somewhat during his pontificate.<ref>
Franzen 427.<!-- from August Franzen's ''A concise history of the Church''? --></ref>