Mikhail Kryzhanovsky. "CIA conspiracies: Pope John Paul II"

Name: Pope John Paul II (born Karol Wojtyla).
Date of assassination attempt: May 13, 1981; shot by a gunman.
Reason: Pope’s intent to investigate the illegal activity of the Vatican Bank.

On May 13, 1981 Pope John Paul II was shot and critically wounded by Mehmet Agdca, a Turkish gunman, as he entered St. Peter’s Square to address the audience. Agdca was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1983 John Paul II visited the prison and spoke privately with Agdca for 20 minutes, and after that made a statement: “What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust.”

An Italian parliamentary commission, after its own investigation, concluded that the Soviet Union was behind the attempt, in retaliation for Pope’s support to “Solidarity,” the Polish anti-Communist workers’ movement. Its report stated that the Bulgarian secret service was utilized to prevent the Soviet Union’s role from being uncovered, but during his 2002 visit to Bulgaria the Pope himself declared that this country had nothing to do with the assassination attempt. Unless a lone, mad Turk picked up the gun on a whim, there was a conspiracy involved. Who was behind it, and why?

File 1. The Vatican Bank, the first partner.

The Vatican Bank (Institute for Religious Works) is the central bank of Roman Catholic Church; its CEO reports directly to a committee of cardinals and to the Pope. It’s known that in the 1990s the Bank invested over $10 billion in foreign companies. In 1968, due to a change in Italian financial regulations which would have mandated more transparency — it began to appear that the Bank was laundering money for big business. (The Bank was supposed to funnel all profits directly and immediately to charity.) To prevent a public scandal Pope Paul VI enlisted Michele Sindona as papal finance advisor to sell off assets and move money overseas. Sindona had been chiefly responsible for the massive influx of money when he began processing the Gambino crime family’s heroin money (taking a 50% cut) through a shell corporation “Mabusi.” This was accomplished with the help of another banker, Roberto Calvi, who managed the Banco Ambrosiano. Both Sindona and Calvi where members of “Propaganda Due” (P2) Masonic Lodge and close friends to its headmaster, the neofascist Licio Gelli, who worked for “Gladio”(see file #3). Sindona was poisoned in 1986 in prison in Italy, and we’ll talk about Calvi too, don’t worry. When Pope John Paul I succeeded Pope Paul VI on August 26, 1978 he ordered Cardinal Jean Villot, papal Secretary of State and Head of papal Curia, to investigate the Vatican Bank operations. Just 33 days later, after informing Villot that he was going public with the scandal (and firing Villot, among others), John Paul I died. The official cause of death was “possibly associated to a myocardial infarction” (heart attack), though no autopsy was performed.
On October 22, 1978, Karol Wojtyla, 58, was inaugurated as Pope John Paul II. The youngest pope in Roman Catholic Church history, he thought he would strengthen his position first; but the explosive situation with the Vatican Bank impelled him to act.

File 2. Banco Ambrosiano, the second partner.

The Vatican Bank was the above mentioned Banco Ambrosiano’s main shareholder and knew well that its Chairman, Roberto Calvi, was funding P2. In 1981 police raided the office of P2 Grandmaster Licio Gelli and found evidence against Calvi, who was arrested and sentenced to four years in jail. However, he was released pending an appeal, and kept his position in the bank. On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot in Rome, and survived. In 1982 it was discovered that Ambrosio Bank could not account for $1,287 billion. Calvi fled Italy on a false passport. His personal secretary, Graziella Corrocher, left a note denouncing Calvi before jumping from her office window to her death. On June 17, 1982, Calvi’s body was found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London. His suit was stuffed with rocks and a brick had been placed in his trousers. The British police treated his death as suicide, but after 1992 exhumation concluded it was a murder. In 2003 City of London Police reopened the investigation.

File 3. “Gladio,” the third partner.

Mehmet Agdca was a member of the “Grey Wolves,” an ultra-nationalist Turkish terror organization, infiltrated by “Gladio” — a CIA and NATO sponsored super-secret paramilitary terror organization in Italy with branches all over Western Europe. “Gladio” was a part of a clandestine “stay-behind” operation to counter communist influence after World War II, but like all other branches was actually never used “to resist Soviet influence or invasion.” Still, the structures exist even now (what for?). “Gladio’s” existence was acknowledged in 1990 by the head of the Italian government, Giulio Andreotti. Further investigations revealed links to neo-fascists, the mafia and law-breaking P2 Masonic Lodge. The following was passed on November 22, 1990.

European Parliament Resolution on the “Gladio” Affair

A. Having regard to the revelation by several European governments of the existence for 40 years of a clandestine parallel intelligence and armed operations organization in several Member States of the Community,
B. Whereas for over 40 years this organization has escaped all democratic controls and has been run by the secret services of the states concerned in collaboration with NATO,
D. Whereas in certain Member States military secret services (or uncontrolled of branches thereof) were involved in serious cases of terrorism and crime as evidenced by various judicial inquiries,
E. Whereas these organizations operated and continue to operate completely outside the law, since they are not subject to any parliamentary control and frequently those holding the highest government and constitutional posts are kept in the dark as to these matters,
F. Whereas the various “Gladio” organizations have at their disposal independent arsenals and military resources which give them an unknown strike potential, thereby jeopardizing the democratic structures of the countries in which they are operating or have been operating,
G. Greatly concerned by the existence of decision-making and operational bodies which are not subject to any form of democratic control and are of a completely clandestine nature at a time when greater Community cooperation in the field of security is a constant subject of discussion,
64. Condemns the clandestine creation of manipulative and operational networks and calls for a full investigation into the nature, structure, aims and all other aspects of these clandestine organizations or any splinter groups, their use for illegal interference in the internal political affairs of the countries concerned, the problem of terrorism in Europe and the possible collusion of the secret services of Member States or third countries;
65. Protests vigorously at the assumption by certain US military personnel at SHAPE and NATO of the right to encourage the establishment in Europe of a clandestine intelligence and operational network;
66. Calls on the governments of the Member States to dismantle all clandestine military and paramilitary networks;
67. Calls on the judiciaries of the countries in which the presence of such military organizations has been ascertained to elucidate fully their composition and modus operandi and to clarify any action they may have taken to destabilize the democratic structure of the Member States;
68. Requests all the Member States to take the necessary measures, if necessary by establishing parliamentary committees of inquiry, to draw up complete list of organizations active in this field, and at the same time to monitor their links with the respective state intelligence services and their links, if any, with terrorist action groups and/or other illegal practices;
69. Calls on the Council of Ministers to provide full information on the activities of these secret intelligence and operational services;
70. Calls on its competent committee to consider holding a hearing in order to clarify the role and impact of the ‘Gladio’ organization and any similar bodies;
71. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Secretary-General of NATO, the governments of the Member States and the United States Government.


By now the following code names of other “Gladio” branches are known:
SDRA 8 - in Belgium ,ABSALON - in Denmark, TD BJD - in Germany ,LOK - in Greece , Stay-Behind - in Luxemburg , I&O - in Netherlands ,ROC - in Norway
,AGINTER - in Portugal , P26 - in Switzerland , Counter-Guerrilla - in Turkey , OWSGV - in Austria

The code names of the branches in France, Finland, Spain and Sweden remain unknown. In 1996, five years after the Soviet Union collapsed, Austrian President Thomas Klestil and Chancellor Franz Vranitsky insisted that they knew nothing of the existence of the secret, illegal CIA-NATO army and they demanded that the United States launch a full-scale investigation into the violation of Austria’s neutrality, which was denied by President Bill Clinton. Was Mr. Clinton covering terrorists who tried to kill the Pope?