Pope deal ruled out

Press, 30 June 1983, Page 10

Pope deal ruled out

NZPA-Reuter Vatican City Vatican officials yesterday discounted speculation that Pope John Paul II had agreed to end Church support for Lech Walesa, leader of Poland’s banned Solidarity trade union. Speculation that the Pope had made a deal with Polish authorities concerning Mr Walesa during his visit to Poland last week was fuelled by an article in the Vatican newspaper, at the week-end. It said that Mr Walesa had lost his battle and the sacrifice of awkward people was sometimes necessary for the general good. The article in the semiofficial “L’Osservatore Romano” was interpreted by some as indicating an official Vatican decision to distance itself from Mr Walesa in exchange for concessions from the Polish authorities. It led to the immediate resignation of its author, Mr Virgilio Levi, deputy editor of the paper. “I think we can rule out that any deal was struck in Poland (over Walesa) and that Levi was writing on instruction from some higher authority,” said one senior official who deals with Eastern Europe. Reports have suggested

that Mr Walesa was effectively sacrified by the Church in exchange for concessions, including a commitment from General Wojciech Jaruzelski to the Pope that martial law would be lifted soon.

However, other Vatican sources and a senior Vatican diplomat were unanimous in saying that they believed Father Levi acted without direction from above and had made a serious misjudgment. Some said that the article had been misread. Meanwhile, Poland’s Communist rulers and Catholic leaders have reached agreement in principle for a Church-run foundation to channel money to farmers, sources in Rome and Warsaw report. Cardinal Jozef Glemp, Poland’s Catholic Primate, has been promoting the idea for some months to reach agreement with the Government in talks paving the way for the recent visit of the Pope. According to Western diplomatic sources, the money would be raised by Churches in the West, turned over to the Polish Church, and then distributed through existing State channels.