Dalai Lama: The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, yesterday spoke of his admiration for Pope John Paul and of their shared experience of dealing with communist rule.
"Right from the start of our friendship he revealed to me privately that he had a clear understanding of the Tibetan problem because of his own experience of communism in Poland. This gave me great personal encouragement," the Dalai Lama said in a statement.
"His Holiness Pope John Paul II was a determined and deeply spiritual-minded person for whom I had great respect and admiration.
"His experience in Poland, then a communist country, and my own difficulties with communists, gave us an immediate common ground," the Dalai Lama said.
He fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region and has led a Tibetan government-in-exile, seeking greater autonomy for the Tibetan people.
The Pope is credited with inspiring his fellow Poles to overthrow communism in 1989.
"The first time we met, he struck me as very practical and open, with a broad appreciation of global problems.
"I have no doubt that he was a great spiritual leader," the Dalai Lama said.