Officials say pope, Reagan shared Cold War data, but lacked alliance

Published: 2004-11-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Two top foreign policy officials in the administration of the late President Ronald Reagan have said he and Pope John Paul II shared information about the Cold War but did not engage in coordinated actions to topple the Soviet bloc. "We were more interested in having the pope on our side and not in having him do something for us," said Edward Rowny, Reagan's main adviser and negotiator on nuclear arms talks. Richard V. Allen, Reagan's 1981-82 national security adviser, said there was "a convergence of interests" but not an alliance between the United States and the Vatican during the Reagan presidency. Reagan was president from 1981 to 1989, a period that saw the Soviet Union lose its political hold on its East European allies, which led to the eventual breakup of the Soviet Union and the peaceful end of communist governments in the Soviet bloc. Pope John Paul was elected in October 1978.

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