Posted on 03/02/2006 7:20:10 AM PST by Vaquero
Italian Panel: Soviets Behind Pope Attack
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 31 minutes ago
ROME - An Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II — a theory long alleged but never proved, according to a draft report made available Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT
The commission held that the pope was a danger to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe.
"This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla," said a draft of the commission's report obtained by The Associated Press.
Wojtyla was John Paul's Polish name.
The draft has no bearing on any judicial investigations, which have long been closed.
The report also said a photograph shows that a Bulgarian man acquitted of involvement in the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt was in St. Peter's Square when the pontiff was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca.
The Bulgarian secret service allegedly was working for Soviet military intelligence, but the Italian court held that the evidence was insufficient to convict the Bulgarians in the plot.
Agca, a Turk, has changed his story often and investigators said it was never clear who he was working for. He initially blamed the Soviets.
Agca served 19 years in an Italian prison for shooting the pope and then 5 1/2 years in Turkey for murdering journalist Abdi Ipekci.
He was released from the Turkish prison Jan. 12 but returned days later when prosecutors said he must serve more of his 10-year term for killing Ipekci. He will be released in 2010.
The Italian commission was originally established to investigate any KGB penetration of Italy during the Cold War.
The commission president, Sen. Paolo Guzzanti, said he decided to investigate the 1981 shooting after John Paul said in his book "Memory and Identity: Conversations Between Millenniums" that "someone else planned it, someone else commissioned it." The book came out shortly before the pope's death last year.
Sergei Antonov, former Rome station manager of Bulgaria's state airline, claimed during his trial that he was in his office when John Paul was shot. Italy had accused him of complicity with Agca.
Antonov's lawyer, Giuseppe Consolo, said it was a case of mistaken identity and the man in the photograph came forward during the investigation as an American tourist of Hungarian origin. Consolo said the photo was not used as evidence in the trial.
The report must be approved by the full commission, which meets March 7.
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Pope John Paul II lies injured in his jeep in St. Peter's Square after being shot by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca in this May 1981 file photo. Leaders of the former Soviet Union were behind the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, an Italian parliamentary investigative commission said in a report. REUTERS/Vatican/Handout
I thought all of this had been proved many years ago?
I'm shocked. SHOCKED I say!
....The commission held that the pope was a danger to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe.
"This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla," said a draft of the commission's report obtained by The Associated Press.....
HE WAS MORE THAN A THREAT.... HE WAS THEIR DEMISE
ping
No, the cardinal elevated to pope played by Raf Vallone, was Michael's friend and confessor. He was knocked off by the conspirators who had defrauded the Vatican bank.
Looks like Putin has one more thing to apologize for.
Took a long time for Red Rabbit to get translated into Italian it seems.
Was there ever any doubt?
What else could it have been?
Godfather III
Worse crud ever. Should have stoped after II.
Russia is a disgusting nation.
bump
Where's Pootie's apology for this???
It did, and the SVR still has thugs on the National/World council of Churches.
"I thought all of this had been proved many years ago?"
I believe there was a very strong case built many years ago. I don't believe there was ever definitive proof. Not that I needed it myself.
Oh yea, I forgot... Putin probably had direct knowlege of the attempted assassination of the pope. He can't say anything.
Considering as Putin was barely in the KGB by this point and working far from Italy, or Moscow, it's pretty unlikely he heard anything about it.
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