No Message Backs U.S. Latin Policy, Vatican Says

The Vatican on Thursday formally disavowed President Reagan’s assertion that Pope John Paul II had sent him a “verbal message” supporting U.S. activities in Central America.

While acknowledging that the pontiff received two letters from Reagan concerning Central America last week and the week before, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls denied that the Pope replied, verbally or otherwise, with any message on the subject.

When asked if anything that could be interpreted as a papal message to Reagan had been sent by any means--”written, spoken, by smoke signals, tom-toms or any way”--Navarro Valls said, “no, no message.”

Reagan twice this week claimed papal support for American efforts in Central America. Speaking to a group of religious leaders Tuesday, he said, “I just had a verbal message delivered to me from the Pope urging us to continue our efforts in Central America.”

On Wednesday during a photo session with Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid, he was asked if the message included support for U.S. aid to Nicaraguan rebels. Reagan replied that the Pope “ . . . had been most supportive of all of our activities in Central America.”

In addition to Navarro Valls’ denial that any such papal message had been sent to Reagan, the Vatican issued a carefully worded formal statement detailing papal contacts initiated by Reagan this month.

The statement said Reagan had informed John Paul by personal letter of his April 4 “proposal for an internal truce in Nicaragua” only hours before it was made public.

The plan calls for a cease-fire and negotiations between Nicaragua’s Sandinista government and the rebels, or contras. It also asks Congress to release $14 million in aid to the rebels on condition that the money be used only for food, clothing and medicine, not for military assistance, if the negotiations take place.

According to the Vatican statement, the letter was followed up by a telephone call from the President’s national security adviser, Robert C. McFarlane, to the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli. The Holy See then informed the Nicaraguan Conference of Bishops, members of which had already stated their “availability to act as mediators in an internal dialogue,” the statement said.

Pope Met Senators

Last Saturday, the Pope received a group of U.S. senators, led by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), “who delivered to his holiness a second personal letter from the President,” the statement said.

It noted that the full text of John Paul’s remarks to the senators was published the next day in the official Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. “There were no further messages from the Holy Father,” the statement concluded.

A participant in the audience with the senators said that Dole handed the President’s letter concerning Central America and arms-control talks to the pontiff but that it remained unopened and unread until after the Americans had left the Vatican. It therefore was considered highly unlikely that the Pope could have conveyed even an informal reply during the meeting.

In his speech to the senators, John Paul made no mention of Central America or Nicaragua. He told them they were in a “splendid position” to defend life, preserve liberty and advance “true happiness for countless men, women and children--millions of whom are yet unborn.”

No Latin Connection

The speech was interpreted by Vatican officials and most Vatican observers as an exhortation against abortion, with no other political relevance.