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PAGE 11 — The Georgia Bulletin, June 6, 1985
Attempt On Pope's Life
Testimony Continues In Trial
BY JOHN THAVIS
ROME (NC) - After
almost a week of testimony
in the trial of eight men ac
cused of plotting to shoot
Pope John Paul II in 1981,
the first public evidence
has emerged that Turkish
terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca
had help in preparing the
attack.
Omer Bagci, a 40-year-
old Turk who was living in
Switzerland at the time of
the shooting, admitted to
an Italian court in Rome
May 30 that he delivered a
9mm Browning pistol to
Agca in Milan on May 9,
1981. Four days later, Agca
fired the gun at the pope in
St. Peter’s Square, serious
ly wounding him.
As the trial progressed,
Dutch authorities were in
vestigating whether a de
tained Turkish man was
Oral Celik, a second gun
man who might have fired
at the pope that day.
Celik’s whereabouts are
unknown, and he is being
tried in absentia.
In the United States, an
American woman wounded
in the incident has decided
not to testify at the trial.
Pope John Paul has said
he hoped the trial would not
“weigh heavily” on Slavic
people.
Bagci’s testimony May
28-30 was at times con
tradictory and incomplete,
but it confirmed much of
what Agca, 27, has told
Italian investigators about
the gun. The case against
the four other Turks and
three Bulgarians is based
largely on what Agca told
the investigators during a
two-and-a-half-year probe.
Agca has confessed to
shooting the pope and is
serving a life sentence in
Italy.
“Agca is not a solo per
former,” Italian Pro
secutor Antonio Marini
said, summing up Bagci’s
testimony.
Bagci’s statements to the
court of two judges and six
jurors contrasted sharply
with the behavior of Agca
earlier in the week. On the
trial’s second day, Agca
took the witness stand and
proclaimed himself to be
“Jesus Christ.” He an
nounced the “end of the
world” and described
religious visions he had
had.
More importantly, he
refused to testify, saying he
was awaiting a “response”
from the Vatican. He did
not explain the statement
but earlier had demanded
that the Vatican reveal
“the third secret of the
Madonna of Fatima.”
If Agca continues to
refuse to give evidence in
the trial, it would be con
sidered a major blow to the
prosecutor’s case against
the other defendants.
Defense lawyers were
pleased over Agca’s
remarks, saying they
underlined that Agca’s
statements were “thinly
veiled messages” to ac
complices still at large.
In asking for more time
before testifying, Agca was
giving his accomplices one
last chance to “intervene,”
Marini said. Only Acga and
three other defendents are
present for the trial. Three
of those charged, including
two Bulgarian diplomats,
are in Bulgaria.
Italy’s national Catholic
daily, Avvenire, also sug
gested Agca’s remarks
were a coded message. The
Rome Daily II Messaggero,
Italy’s largest-selling
newspaper, pointed out
that Agca had convinced
the court to begin hearing
testimony from other
witnesses first, which could
be a strategic advantage.
Bulgarian observers at
the trial dismissed Agca as
a “fool” who had misled
the Italian judiciary for
four years. The official
Bulgarian news agency,
BTA, said the opening of
the trial caused a wave of
protest rallies by workers
and students throughout
Bulgaria.
The official press of
Bulgaria’s Eastern-bloc al
ly, Hungary, described the
trial as an anti-Bulgarian
campaign designed to
make “a cold war even
cooler.” And the Soviet
news agency Tass said the
“dragged-out tragicom
edy” should be ended at
once.
Meanwhile, Ann Odre of
Buffalo, N.Y., has decided
not to testify at the trial.
Mrs. Odre, 62, was shot in
the chest during the
assassination attempt on
the pope and suffered con
siderable internal damage
from the bullet wound. She
was hospitalized for two
months after the incident,
said her attorney, Michael
Babat.
“She wants to end this
thing now,” said Babat.
‘ ‘She just wants it over with
for her.”
On May 24, Mrs. Odre
received a request, dated
May 11, that she travel to
Rome by May 27 to testify
at the trial.
Vatican Lifts Suspension Of Clergy
of Bishop Isidore Borecky
of the Ukrainian Eparchy
of Toronto.
The priests were ordain
ed despite a 1929 Vatican
instruction which pro
hibited Ukrainians in North
America from ordaining
married men.
The Vatican has permit
ted married men to become
priests in the Eastern rite
only under exceptional cir
cumstances.
Last December, Bishop
Borecky said his auxiliary
in 1975, Bishop Michael
Rusnak, believed he had
verbal permission from the
Vatican to perform the or
dinations.
Bishop Rusnak, now
head of the Byzantine
Slovak Eparchy of Sts.
Cyril and Methodius, had
ordained the married men
because of a local shortage
of Eastern-rite priests,
sources said.
Bishop Borecky said he
was pleased the censure
was lifted.
“We are sure that you re
joice with us that this mat
ter has at last received a
final resolution in our
favor,” he said in a letter to
Father Lozynsky.
Home Brew
Beer And Wine Kits & Supplies
BY CHERYL AGOSTON
TORONTO (NC) - The
Vatican has lifted its
suspension of three mar
ried Eastern-rite priests
who, it said, were ordained
illegally in Canada in 1975.
Fathers Andrew Kor-
manik, Terry Lozynsky
and John Girhiny have
received letters from the
Vatican Congregation for
Easter Rite Churches
ending their censure and
formally allowing them to
resume their duties.
They had continued to
function as priests despite
the suspension. The con
gregation had reminded
them of the censure in a
September 1984 letter.
“It’s like a wound that
has been festering,” said
Father Lozynsky, who was
married in 1969. He and his
wife Verna have two
children, Suzie, 12, and
Eric, 10.
In its Italian-language
letter the congregation said
it lifted the suspensions to
give peace to souls arid
because of the intercession
Brew Your Own At Home
Carl Matricardi
325-7302
OUTREACH — An enthusiastic
crowd reaches out to touch Pope
John Paul II as he takes a short
walk through the town center in
Louvain, Belgium. (NC photo
from UPI Reuter)
Anti-Abortion Rider
To Help Civil Rights Bill
WASHINGTON (NC) -
The proposed Civil Rights
Restoration Act stands a
better chance of passage if
“anti- abortion and “reli
gious tenet” amendments
are part of the bill, accor
ding to Msgr. Daniel F.
Hoye, U.S. Catholic Con
ference general secretary.
The Civil Right Restora
tion Act would oveturn the
Supreme Court “Grove
City College” ruling that
only those programs of a
university or similar in
stitution receiving federal
funds can be penalized for
practicing discrimination.
Two versions of the bill,
one with amendments the
USCC favors and the other
without the anti-abortion
and “religious tenet”
amendments, have been
passed by two House com
mittees.
“We expect strong op
position from many groups
who will claim that these
amendments are harmful
(to the proposed bill),”
Msgr. Hoye wrote in a
report to the nation’s
Catholic bishops. He said
the success of the bill in one
committee indicates that
including the “amend
ments will enhance the
possibility of the bill being
passed by Congress.”
His report was released
by the USCC May 31.
Anti-abortion and
“religious tenet” amend
ments acceptable to the
USCC were included in a
version of the Civil Right
Restoration Act passed by
the House Education and
Labor Committee May 21.
However, during action
May 22 on the same bill,
similar amendments failed
in the House Judiciary
Committee, which dealt
with the abortion issue by
merely declaring that the
bill had nothing to say
about abortion.
The anti-abortion provi
sion is considered impor
tant because current law
has been widely inter
preted as demanding that
federally assisted institu
tions — such as universities
— offer abortion services.
ATTENTION PARENTS
Saint Bernard Prep School
Is Now Administering
Placement Exams For
The Fall Semester 1985.
Saint Bernard Prep School in Cullman, Alabama is a coed boarding
school offering a traditional college preparatory curriculum.
Outstanding faculty, 800 acre campus and excellent facilities.
Spiritual and academic formation.
Quality Education
In The Benedictine Tradition
For more information call:
President Michael Burke
(205) 739-6682
Saint Bernard Prep School
101 Saint Bernard Drive
Cullman, AIabama 35055
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