Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has expressed her condolences on the death of Pope John Paul II, noting the pontiff’s 1993 visit to Latvia and his role in opposing the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

The Pope, born Karol Józef Wojtyła in 1920 in Krakow, Poland, died April 2 at the age of 84 in the Vatican City. He was elected pope in 1978.

John Paull II, the president said, leaves a deep impact on the history of Europe in his work pushing for and defending Christian values and people’s struggles for freedom.

The Pope, the president noted in a statement posted on her official Web site, installed the first two cardinals in Latvia’s history, Julians Vaivoids and Jānis Pujāts, and created two new Catholic dioceses in Jelgava and in the Aglona-Rēzekne region.

Vīķe-Freiberga’s last communication from the Pope came March 25, when the Vatican sent a response to the president’s letter regarding her decision to attend May 9 ceremonies in Moscow marking the end of World War II. The Pope’s response said the president’s letter had raised “deep contemplations,” according to a press release from the president’s press office.

U.S. President George W. Bush has accepted an invitation from President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga to visit Latvia from May 6-7, before both head to Moscow for a May 9 celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The visit, according to Vīķe-Freiberga’s press office, will coincide with the 15th anniversary of Latvia’s renewed declaration of indepedence. Latvia’s national legislature, then known as the Supreme Council, declared the republic’s independence from the Soviet Union on May 4, 1990, but true independence only came in August 1991.

As part of his visit, Bush is expected to participate in a U.S.-Baltic summit meeting with the presidents of all three Baltic countries.

During his May 6-10 visit to Europe, Bush also plans to visit the Netherlands and Georgia, according to the White House press office.

Bush would be the second U.S. president to visit Latvia. Former President Bill Clinton visited Latvia in July 1994.

At the invitation of King Carl XVI Gustav, Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga will lead a delegation of political, business and education leaders on a two-day state visit March 31-April 1 to Sweden, the president’s press office has announced.

During the visit, Vīke-Freiberga is scheduled to meet with the king and other Swedish leaders, speak at the University at Uppsala, and unveil a commemorative plaque at a house in Uppsala where Latvian writer Zenta Mauriņa once lived.

Among those in the delegation will be Economics Minister Artūrs Krišjānis Kariņš, Finance Minister Oskars Spurdziņš and Culture Minister Helēna Demakova. Also in the delegation will be opera singer Inese Galante, who will perform the evening of April 1 in a concert honoring Vīke-Freiberga and her husband, Imants.