Rome
The KGB was behind the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, according to documents from the former East Germany that were leaked to Italian newspapers last week. The Polish-born pope’s anti-communist sermons were stirring up nationalist sentiment in Poland, then a satellite of the Soviet Union, and this was alarming the Soviet leadership. The man convicted of shooting the pope, Turkish-born Ali Agca, had ties to the secret service of Bulgaria, another Soviet satellite. According to the documents, the Soviets ordered the attack and the Bulgarians carried it out, with East German assistance. The Bulgarian government said this week its archives from the communist era contain no evidence of involvement in the plot.
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