Ex-Polish Regime Reportedly Foiled Plot to Kill Pope

Poland’s former Communist government foiled a 1983 plot to kill Pope John Paul II but did not disclose the scheme to the public, Polish television reported Monday.

The report quoted law Prof. Krystyna Daszkiewicz as saying the plot was disclosed by former Communist Gen. Zenon Platek at the 1985 trial of four former secret agents who were convicted of killing pro-Solidarity priest Jerzy Popieluszko. Daszkiewicz is about to publish a book about a cover-up.

Daszkiewicz told Polish TV that Platek testified in court that the Interior Ministry had discovered “operational signals” about a plot to assassinate the Pope when he traveled to Poland in 1983.

“There were some persons with arms and explosives arrested,” Daszkiewicz quoted Platek as saying.

Daszkiewicz suggested one or more of the four convicted agents may have been involved in the plot and someone in the Interior Ministry in 1983 may also have been linked to the attempt because forged passes allowing the bearer to come close to the pontiff were found in the safe of Adam Pietruszka, one of four agents.

Daszkiewicz said the court in the northern city of Torun did it not pursue the revelation. She believed this may have been on orders of Communist authorities.

Observers speculated that the plotters could have come from one of the former East Bloc countries whose intelligence services were connected with the Soviet secret police.