A GLASS THROUGH WHICH THE FREE WORLD CAN VIEW THE SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120089-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 89
• Publication Date: February 10, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120089-3
A^,TICLE APPEARID
ON P.GE_`
10 FEBRUARY 1983
A Glass Through Which the Free
World Can ,View ti'cJ ;vi!
By -anlrmatarice and * by choice, Pops
John Paul II is 'standing' at the center 'the whole complex of East-West relation-
ships, not to mention Ronald Reagan's
thorniest foreign policy problems.
Because of the plot against his life, the .
Bulgarian connection that the Italian police
have-established and the possible, although
far from proven involvement of Yuri V.
Aadnipov, the new Soviet, leader and erst-,
while head of the KGB, the pope could ::.
become the glass through which 'the free .
world looks at Moscow.. -
The president has been preternaturally
restrained in. his comments i about an un-
finished story that .. so? far. reinforces a
thousandfold his stated views of the Soviets
as perfidious and brutal people who stop at .
nothing to divide and conquer the world.
The monstrous suspicions engendered by
the reports would constitute a perfect alibi
for halting the disarmament negotiations
he so reluctantly opened in Geneva. The
explanation that he wishes to preserve de-
tente is hardly convincing, in view of his
recent attempts, through pipeline sanc-
tions, to discourage it. Not all public figures
are so reticent. Sen. Alfonse ' M. D'Amato
(R-N.Y.) is storming around Rome shout-
ing "J'accuse" at the CIA for ineptitude in,
investigating the enormous crime, about'
which, he. rages, he gave them advance in-
formation.
Adding to the riddle is the fact that the
CIA has been charged with leaking ac-
counts that pooh-pooh Bulgarian and KGB
involvement. Why? Is it covering for its
failures on the case? Does it have better
information? If so, why is it not divulged?
The pope also is a pivotal figure in the
matter most galling to the administration-
the U.S. bishops' controversial anti-nuclear
pastoral letter.*.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120089-3
WASHINGTON POST
- According. to nista":yaas'_"'aiuf' 'The State`De t I14pethat It may
~~ a
Nock,. the White House dispatched. Gen.: be just another of those picturesque pea-,
Vernon Walters, a veteran .troubkabooter,' toral progresses, with the white-clad figure
.
to the Vatican to .importune the', popo-A lost in the no of screaming, yearning hu-
rein in his radical derics, who oppose Ebel- ,; manity that-envelop him wherever he goes..
use and other nuclear "options".:Reagan But the political potential is too great for
wishes to retain. Walters indignantly denies comfort: ?
the Evans and Novak. report, but plainly.. , If the pope, for instance, makes Rivera y
the administration. hoped thatthe Damas the: permanent archbishop of El
icans,. who, were recently summoned to Salvador, it is bad news for the adminis-
Rome to meet with their dissenting Euro- tration. Rivera, who has been "acting" for
-pean brother-bishops, were being called on, three years, is a critic of the security forces
the carpet. . and an outspoken advocate of "dialogue,"
This was not the purpose or the outcome. that is, negotiations with the guerr llas. His
of the bishops' meeting, according to eye- . installation would he seen as a papal en-
witnesses. Differing opinions ? were 'ex- dorsement of Rivera's approach.
changed in an amicable, fraternal -spirit. The most the administration could bone
'I third draft of their pastoral letter for in the pope's visit to Nicaragua is that
whicli.tbe president wishes would never see 'the pontiff will be preoccupied with ecde-?
the light of day, is going forward.- siastical offenses-the presence of disobe=
She administration thought at one time dient priests in high places in the Saes=
-rltat it could circumvent ? the U.S. bishops,,-' danista government and the recalcitrant
who- have;. taken an, adamant Position, "popular church" which the pope wishes to
against its`"policy in Latin America. They convert to the Polish virtues of "unity and
--had ' some initial success, but last August, ! discipline." But he may find time to speak
':the pope issued a pastoral letter that; of "reconciliation" between Nicaragua and
proved he did not share the administration its neighbor Honduras, which recently en-
view of the war in El Salvador as a struggle
between East and West with the guerrillas
cast as clients and. pawns of Moscow and
Havana. '
He defined it in these terms:
"On one side those who consider armed
battle a necessary instrument for obtaining
a new social order, and on the other side
those resorting to the principles of 'national
security' to legitimize brutal repression."
Now the pope will go and see for him-
self. Early next month he is embarking on
a tour of Central American hot spots, El
Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicara-
gua. His itinerary is a tribute to his courage
and also his.de tioq tq: be tak
- ?;~.:;;,;, :. ~.. _ eo into
{ ' t, rronnt lit wnrtd effaPM. 'f+~
gaged in military. maneuvers with forces of
the United States, which has never denied
a covert campaign against the Marxists in
.Managua.
His resonant baritone w;il be heeded.
John Paul 11, by accident and design, has
long since become more than the shepherd
of his flock.