Pope John Paul II received president-elect Hipólito Mejía in the library of the Vatican on Monday, 3 July. He met with the Pope for 25 minutes. Pope John Paul has visited the DR on three occasions. He chose the Dominican Republic as his first international voyage, in 1979. He was chosen Pope in 1978. At the time, Hipólito Mejía was Minister of Agriculture in the then government of the late President Antonio Guzman. Pope John Paul II returned in 1984 during the government of President Salvador Jorge Blanco, and then again in 1992 for the commemoration of 500th anniversary of the first European settlement in the New World. During his visit to the Vatican, he was accompanied by his wife Rosa Gomez; the designated Minister of Foreign Relations Hugo Tolentino Dipp; the future coordinator of Lomé programs, Manuel Caceres; Carlos Guzman, in charge of protocol; Peggy Cabral; Pastora Mendez de Fondeur; Miguel Vargas and his wife Angela; the designated Minister of the Armed Forces, General Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez and his wife Mercedes; former colonel Fausto Mejia and the Dominican Republic ambassador in the Vatican, Ivan Feris Iglesias.
