Did the Soviets attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981?
New documents suggest the Soviet KGB did, immediately raising these points:
- If the KGB was indeed involved are there any members or former members of that KGB group involved in the plot that are still in positions of power in Russia? If so, who are they. Their names need to be published and they need to be given the boot no matter what positions they hold.
- The new report fits in with rumors that have swirled around the attempt to murder the Pope since it took place.
- The new report fits in with an ongoing debate that began several years ago suggesting the Soviet KGB was behind the plot to rub out a Pope who many now consider to have played a key role — along with Ronald Reagan — in showing that iron curtain was more like a balsa-wood blind and that liberty could trump dicatatorships (we see more proof of this every day).
Agency France Press has these details on the new report — details published in an Italian newspaper:
New documents found in the files of the former East German intelligence services confirm the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II was ordered by the Soviet KGB and assigned to Bulgarian agents, an Italian daily said on Wednesday.
The Corriere della Sera said that the documents found by the German government indicated that the KGB ordered Bulgarian colleagues to carry out the killing, leaving the East German service known as the Stasi to coordinate the operation and cover up the traces afterwards.
Bulgaria then handed the execution of the plot to Turkish extremists, including Mehmet Ali Agca, who pulled the trigger.
The daily said the documents had been handed over to Bulgaria and would be made available to the Italian parliamentary commission inquiring into the activities of formerly Communist eastern European regimes in Italy.
The newspaper said the documents consist mostly of letters from Stasi operatives to their Bulgarian counterparts seeking help in covering up traces after the attack and denying Bulgarian involvement.
The report also notes that “Ali Agca, who is now in jail in Turkey, claimed after his arrest that the operation was under the control of the Bulgarian embassy in Rome.” And, the paper points out, in his memoirs the Pope wrote that he didn’t believe Agca planned or directed the attack aimed at whacking him.
There has been a debate over this issue of possible Soviet involvement for many years — and this new info should help start to resvolve it.
To read some of the stories and debates click here, here, here, and here.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.