Soviets ordered 1981 Pope shooting

[2952-0-0]

An Italian parliamentary commission has concluded that the former Soviet Union was behind the 1981 assassination attempt on the late Pope John Paul II.
The head of the commission, Paolo Guzzanti, said it was sure beyond "reasonable doubt" that Soviet leaders ordered the shooting.

Turkish national Mehmet Ali Agca, now 48, shot the Pope in St Peter's Square on 13 May 1981, hitting him four times.

Agca never gave a motive, and mystery has continued to surround the shooting.

A link between Agca and Bulgarian agents, and through them to the Soviet Union's KGB, has been the subject of speculation over the years.

Solidarity links

The commission released the final draft of its report to journalists on Thursday.

"This commission believes, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the USSR took the initiative to eliminate Pope Karol Wojtyla," the report said.

Soviet leaders "communicated this decision to the military secret service in order that it carry out the necessary operations", it continued.

The commission said the Soviet Union felt the Pope was a danger because of his support for the democracy-linked Solidarity labour movement in Poland, his native country.

It also said that it had photographic evidence showing a Bulgarian man, one of six men acquitted in 1986 of orchestrating the assassination attempt, was in St Peter's Square at the time of the shooting.

The findings came from a commission set up to investigate Cold War secrets revealed by Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB archivist who defected to the UK in 1992.

Agca served nearly 20 years in an Italian jail for the crime. He is currently in prison in Turkey for the murder of a journalist.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Jack Chick says the event was actually staged by the Vatican.

[Gabu]

Jack Chick says the event was actually staged by the Vatican.

Jack Chick is a nutcase who deserves whatever criticism he gets.

Anyways, interesting, but given that the Soviet Union doesn't really exist anymore, and adding in the fact that none of its leaders in 1981 are in power anymore, there isn't a whole lot you can do about this.

[Michael Z]

An Italian parliamentary commission has concluded that the former Soviet Union was behind the 1981 assassination attempt on the late Pope John Paul II.
The head of the commission, Paolo Guzzanti, said it was sure beyond "reasonable doubt" that Soviet leaders ordered the shooting.

Turkish national Mehmet Ali Agca, now 48, shot the Pope in St Peter's Square on 13 May 1981, hitting him four times.

Agca never gave a motive, and mystery has continued to surround the shooting.

A link between Agca and Bulgarian agents, and through them to the Soviet Union's KGB, has been the subject of speculation over the years.

Solidarity links

The commission released the final draft of its report to journalists on Thursday.

"This commission believes, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the USSR took the initiative to eliminate Pope Karol Wojtyla," the report said.

Soviet leaders "communicated this decision to the military secret service in order that it carry out the necessary operations", it continued.

The commission said the Soviet Union felt the Pope was a danger because of his support for the democracy-linked Solidarity labour movement in Poland, his native country.

It also said that it had photographic evidence showing a Bulgarian man, one of six men acquitted in 1986 of orchestrating the assassination attempt, was in St Peter's Square at the time of the shooting.

The findings came from a commission set up to investigate Cold War secrets revealed by Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB archivist who defected to the UK in 1992.

Agca served nearly 20 years in an Italian jail for the crime. He is currently in prison in Turkey for the murder of a journalist.

Source?

[afleitch]

The BBC ran with it as one of the top few stories for a period last night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4767652.stm

[Michael Z]

Alright, thanks. I usually take what I read on the internet with a pinch of salt (at least ever since I fell for that "Cheney is dead"-rumour) so it's always good to have a credible link with a story like that.

[minionofmidas]

Cheney *is* dead.

So they're sure now, then? What makes them so sure?
It's not as if the Soviet Union really had a credible motif to do that ... nor was ever in the habit of attempting to assassinate Western leaders ... then again, Karol Wojtila doesn't really count as one ...

[??????????]

Alright, thanks. I usually take what I read on the internet with a pinch of salt (at least ever since I fell for that "Cheney is dead"-rumour) so it's always good to have a credible link with a story like that.

The History Channel has discussed this theory a few times as well. Wouldn't suprise me if the Soviets would have tried such nonsense.

[dazzleman]

I always thought the Soviets were behind the assassination attempt against the Pope.  There's no big surprise there.

[GMantis]

I don't know why anyone is paying this any attention. The Italians have been accusing both the Soviet Union and Bulgaria for 25 years with the same evidence. Actually, one of the key points in the case against the Bulgarian, Sergei Antonov, was his presence in St.Peter's Square, so this is also nothing new. If this is ground for accusation, then almost anybody who was there that day could be charged if he had the misfortune to be from a Warsaw pact country. Antonov's trial certainly proved that more substantial evidence isn't necessary, this quite apart from the holes in the prosecution's case (Agca's contradictory evidence, the unexplained mystery of why any professional intelligence service would leave its agent for a year and a half in Italy after his supposed participation in the plot).

[Colin]

I always thought the Soviets were behind the assassination attempt against the Pope.  There's no big surprise there.

Same here as well. The Soviets had all the motives to want to assasinate John Paul II and all the means to do so. If he had died they would have been rid of a staunch anti-communist on top of the world's largest religious organization and would have to fear less about the Pope, and other agents in the West working in cooperation with the Pope, destabilizing Poland and Eastern Europe.

Also I believe the original article had an error in it. Mehmet Ali Agca was a Bulgarian national of Turkish decent, as are 10% of the population of Bulgaria, not a Turkish national living in Bulgaria.

[minionofmidas]

False. Agca is a Turkish national.

[Colin]

False. Agca is a Turkish national.

Hmm...I always thought he was Bulgarian. I guess I was mistaken.

[Platypus]

Didn't spot this before.

1) It's no secret the KGB was responsible for JP2's shootng.

2) The CIA was most likely responsible for the death of JP1