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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 26, 1981
PAGE 8
News Service, "Pope John Paul II has been conducting confidential and
direct talks with the Kremlin over the future of Poland."
Mr. Kaplan reports that according to "usually reliable sources" in the
French Catholic episcopate, John Paul II intervened personally and through
his secretary of state Cardinal Casaroli, to seek to dissuade the Soviets
from using their armed might to crush the Polish reform movement earlier in
the year.
"The Pontiff," reports Mr. Kaplan in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Sunday, April 26, 1981, "frequently has made known his deep concern over
the crisis in his homeland. However, this is the first indication that he
has assumed a personal role in it. It is also the first report that the
Vatican and the Soviet government have entered into direct political
negotiations with one another. Informants here said there was 'no way of
knowing' whether the pope's involvement had influenced the Russians'
apparent decision not to use force against the independent trade union
movement, Solidarity.•.• What seems clear, nevertheless, is that Pope John
Paul decided to throw the overall psychological and political weight of the
Catholic Church into the balance to try to preserve Poland from Soviet
invasion."
Kaplan quotes a Catholic source as saying that the Soviets "have made it
apparent on many occasions that they want the Vatican's good will and
cooperation as far as possible throughout those portions of Eastern Europe
where the Church's spiritual and social roles are significant. Brutal
action in Poland would destroy the improved relations that have been built
up during the past decade or so. That improvement has served both sides
well•..• Pope John Paul has been convinced for some time that the Soviet
leadership has a healthy respect for the church's deep-seated influence."
The belief in church circles, adds Kaplan, is that, although the pontiff's
action may not have been decisive in itself, it was among the factors that
led the Kremlin to decide against immediate intervention sometime during
the last week in March and the first week in April.
Informants believe, concluded Kaplan, that the Kremlin's interest in a
long-term understanding with the Vatican stems from Catholic fervor in the
Soviet-ruled Baltic states, especially Lithuania, which are adjacent to
Poland.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau