A PAPAL VISIT THAT STIRRED A FUROR... ...AND A TV SHOW THAT DID THE SAME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505130035-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: September 27, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/20 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505130035-1
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE / ~
A ~a~af `~~~~ `hat
S~~rr~d a ~~rQr .. .
U.S. NEWS & WORLD RETORT
27 SEP`.~ EI?~ER 1982
Currents in the News
... A~~ a ~Y S~o~u~`at did tie Same
~'~'as the Soviet Union behind last to set aside his papal crown and lead the
year's shooting of Pope John Paul II? resistance if Soviet Droops invaded Po-
Two private investigations suggest this land. Other evidence indicated that
nught be the case, and the V4'hite House >l4ehmet Ali Agca-the Turkish gun-
ackno~~ledges that it is a possibility. man sentenced to life iri prison for
The September issue of Read
'
er
s
Drgesf first outlined evidence
against the Kremlin. More details
came from NBC News ii advance
of its September ~1 television doc-
umentary, "The ]elan Who Shot
the Pope-a Study iz Terrorism."
Reagan administration officials
said that independent information
reaching U.S. intelligence agencies
supports the news reports.
Both stories raised the possibility
that the Poti~h-born Pope was a
I{remlin target because of his
strong support for Poland's Soli-
darity trade union.
'ABC, in a report denied by the
Vatican, said John Paul sent Leonid
Brezhnev a letter in 1980, vowing Turkish terrorist: The mystery still lingers.
shooting the Pope on 'fay 13, 1981-
~vas working for an organized-crime
group in Turkey with close ties to the
Bulgarian secret service. The Bulgarian
agents, the reports noted, take orders
from the KGB, the Soviet secret police.
Agca is said to have spent 550,000 on
air fares and first-class hotels beriveen
the time he escaped a Turkish jail
in 1979 and shot the Pope 18
rnonths later. During several
weeks in Bulgaria, Agca reportedly
acquired the counterfeit passport
and the pistol he carried to Rome.
Both reports avoided flatly accus-
ingthe Kremlin of helping Agca. "A
So~~iet connection is strongly sug-
gested," said NBC's Marvin Kalb,
"but it cannot be proved."
Still, said Reoder's Digest, "it is
inconceivable that the KGB would
not have known all there was to
know about a terrorist as closely
involved with the Bulgarian secret
service as Agca was."
Radio '~foscov