A reference When 12 religious groups assembled in Assisi Italy in the October 1986 of at the request of Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II Tenzin Gyatso recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibetan buddhism according to The New York Times the Dalai Lama a Buddhist leader converted the altar of the Church of San Pietro by placing a small statue of the Buddha atop the tabernacle and setting prayer scrolls and incense burners around it