The Pope wrote to Margaret Thatcher about his "deep" concerns for
republican inmates on hunger strike in the Maze Prison, previously
secret papers have showed.
Pope John Paul II urged the former
prime minister to "consider personally" solutions to the crisis in which
seven IRA inmates deliberately starved themselves at the notorious
Northern Ireland jail in the hope of winning prisoner-of-war status.
The personal message from John Paul II reads: "I am receiving
disturbing news about the tension in the Maze Prison in Northern
Ireland, where a number of prisoners have begun a hunger strike."
He continued: "I am aware that the Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland, Mr Atkins, has already been asked to examine the problem and to
seek possible solutions.
"In the spirit of the call for peace and reconciliation which I made
at Drogheda during my pastoral visit to Ireland last year, I would
express my deep concern about the tragic consequences which the
agitation could have for the prisoners themselves and also the possible
grave repercussions upon the whole situation in Northern Ireland.
"I would ask you to consider personally possible solutions in order
to avoid irreversible consequences that could perhaps prove
irreparable."
The letter was made public as part of a release of previously secret
Government papers from 1980 held by the National Archives in Kew,
London.
The origins of the protest lay in the 1976 decision by the British
Government to treat newly convicted IRA prisoners as ordinary criminals
rather than political prisoners.
The removal of "special category" status was extended to all paramilitary prisoners in March 1980.
Seven republican prisoners went on hunger strike in October 1980 in
response.
They were joined in the following month by 23 more.
SIC: II/IE