Soviets Behind Pope Attack
`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.
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.’
