CIA REPORTEDLY CAN'T TIE KGB TO POPE SHOOTING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120100-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 100
• Publication Date: February 6, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120100-9
ARTICLE APIMMM
Oa PAGE_
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
6 FEBRUARY 198--1
CIA re ortec C~,n3. - le
y
KGB to Pope iho~ti~gT
By James Coates of the Polish Pope."
Both Bulgaria and the Soviet
Union have denied an
invoIvee
t
y
p
+
WASHINGTON-President in the assassination attempt.
Reagan 's proposal for a meeting If Soviet involvement in the
with Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to shooting were proved,. it could ,de'-
sign a nuclear missile agreement stroy ital East-West economic- and'-
came last Monday only after. CIA political links and disrupt eve
'.:
officials said they did not have any from U.S.-Soviet trade to,arms
conclusive proof that the Soviet trol? . -.- . . -
Union engineered the 1981 shooting -? ? Sources said the CIA'briefers-iadi-'
of Pope John Paul II, according to - cated that a "chain of circumstaititrl
U.S. government sources. evidence" leads from Agea to?'the
During briefings about the Pope's Bulgarian secret police.
The sources noted that Bulgarianif1
shooting Hillrsomee CIA officials and
Pared the situation to the confusion... officials recently took -several steps
defuse speculation that their.sa-
over a possible Soviet role in the 1963 to i
assassination -of President John F. 'cret police,set-up "Agca's..attach-far._
Kennedy, the sources said. the KGB.
The riefers repeatedly empha, FOR EXAMPLE, autborfties in the"
sized that their conclusions are being Bulgarian capital of Sofia allowed 0":
drawn primarily from results ob--- New York Times reporter to tnterL,
tamed by an Italian court investiga-, view Bekir Celenk, a Turk wanted b j " '
Ling the shooting of the Pope, rather _Italy on complicity in the
than from United States agents here ; tion attempt. Celenk -said. in tlie-in ".'
and abroad. terview. that he -has never rnet Agra'"
Although the Italian investigation"-Irian newspapers. have reported"
has not yet been concluded, a num- that Celenk offered Agca 51.25-imr-?-
her of U.S. officials have'indicated lion to shoot the Pope. The reports:'.'
that American intelligence agencies are unconfirmed.
doubt the Italians will produce con- Bulgaria .placed Celenk-
elusive proof of any association be- ;-government control" in .;Sofia 14
tweenQMehmet All c gea' the Pope's cember after the newspaper reports
ice.
Marian prosecutor said I~enlc f?.
Vice "President George Bush dis- until the Italian inquiry is co--T
Cussed the attack on the pontiff with " pleted.
the CIA's Rome ' station chief and. - At the same time, Bulgarian au-
other experts before traveling to Eu thorities deny that their country had
rope last week. - ,- ,any dealings with Celenk...
President Reagan's proposal .:to::
Andropov came in an open letter A ' SThflLAR suspicion --.of - &MeS
which Bush read ?in West Berlin. involvement occurred in the wake of "
Italy's Defense Minister I.elio:. Kennedy's assassination after It was
` Lagorio implied - in December , tba inclosed that .Oswald : ha8"' gone"7.c;
the`13ttlgarian cVerna:ent svgs 3zr?.Soviet.Uninn in 1 9 aPA oife t?
i= volved in. the shooting of 'the Pope'. to provide'the KGB with details,
"There has been.international specu= learned as aradar technician at (I. U-
lation that the Soviet KGB worked-in 2 spy plane base in Japan. ' ` i?';.r;~,:
collusion with Bulgarian authorities`'
in what has-been "called the-ploto~ But, as the CIA t}rider&. Piave,,
. .y . , ,.., noted in current sessions about' '
;kill the Pope:.: Pope's shooting, there was enough i
Sen. Alfonse M. D'Arnato '-+{R' doubt in the Kennedy case to keep'
-said "last.Sept
was "convinced that heber. that. be - the U.S. from ever formally chat .
was the Soviet KGB,
gig that the KGB was involved. ' iA
IA'
had full knowledge of and-at :least the assassination. -
: tactically supported the plot."
D'Amato, a conservative, said it was , The exerts emphasize that: the
"quite apparent that the Soviets current situation involving the Pope
would have liked to rid the Vatican contains similar doubt..
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120100-9