Vatican City, Apr 5, 2011 / 17:02 pm
New charges from Poland’s former communist ruler that Islamic extremists plotted the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II are baseless and unbelievable, according to the late Pope’s biographer.
There is “no evidence” to connect Mehmet Ali Agca, the Pope’s would-be assassin, to Islamic groups and Agca had “no Muslim education and was not pious,” George Weigel told CNA in an e-mail April 5.
Weigel said the charges of an Islamic connection were “promoted by Soviet-bloc intelligence at the time of the assassination attempt in order to muddy the waters and, likely, cover the trail.”
Poland’s last communist leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, now 87, revived these allegations in a recent interview with the Italian magazine, “Jesus.” He said radical Muslims were the “most logical” origin of Agca’s attack on the Pope May 13, 1981 in Rome.