Last month saw many Americans – Republicans mostly – quick to seize on the perceived similarities between Pope John Paul II and former President Ronald Reagan. True, both men played all-important roles in helping bring about the fall of communism and the demise of the Soviet empire and playing important roles in shaping the 20th century and getting rid of oppression; one as president of a thriving democracy, and the other as the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics. Their alliance against communism seemed natural after all, but the similarities do not stop there. Both Reagan and the pope were the targets of assassination attempts in the same year. The pope’s would be assassin, a Turk by the name of Mehmet Ali Agca, was reportedly working for the Bulgarian intelligence services who, in turn, could have been acting for the benefit of the Soviet KGB. The Soviets –
