June 28, 1983

Sources close to Lech Walesa, the former Solidarity leader, said today that Pope John Paul II told him in their private meeting Thursday that martial law could be lifted in September if the banned union stopped protesting in the streets. The informants quoted the Pope as having said Solidarity should avoid street disturbances ''at all costs'' and that the Polish Government, besides lifting martial law, could also grant limited amnesty to dissidents. (These statements, however, could not be independently confirmed. In Washington, John Joseph Cardinal Krol of Philadelphia, who accompanied the Pope in Poland, said after reporting to President Reagan that he could not confirm them either. But the Cardinal said he believed the Polish authorities had decided after the papal visit that they ''had better put an end'' to martial law. There was speculation the date might be as early as July 22, he said.

International Italy's Christian Democrats suffered a sharp setback in general elections but apparently remained the nation's largest party. The Communists remained in second place, but were much closer to the Christian Democrats than before. The Christian Democrats have dominated all 43 Italian Cabinets since the end of World War II. (Page A1, Column 3.) A major increase in Iraq's firepower was reported by State Department officials. They said France had agreed to lend Baghdad five of its Super Etenard fighter-bombers capable of firing Exocet missiles. Super Etendards armed with Exocets enabled Argentine forces to sink two British ships in the Falklands war last year. (A1:1-2.)

France has agreed to lend Iraq five of its Super Etendard fighter-bombers capable of firing Exocet missiles, State Department officials said today. The loan, arranged in secret last month in Paris, brings a major increase in Iraq's firepower, the officials said. Super Etendards armed with Exocets were the prime weapon of the Argentines in their conflict with Britain over the Falklands last year. They sank two British ships, the destroyer Sheffield and a supply ship.

A jury today returned an open verdict at the second inquest into the death last year of Roberto Calvi, the 61-year-old president of the bankrupt Banco Ambrosiano, once Italy's largest privately owned banking group. The original verdict was suicide. The decision today means that there was insufficient proof of either suicide or unlawful killing. Mr. Calvi, sometimes known as ''God's banker'' because of his links with the Vatican, was found on June 18, 1982, hanging by a rope under Blackfriars Bridge, just south of London's financial district. Ten days earlier he had disappeared from his apartment in Rome, where he was appealing a four-year jail sentence for illegal currency dealings.

The bidding for Norton Simon Inc. heated up yesterday when Anderson, Clayton & Company, a Houston-based producer of foods, made an offer for the consumer products company. The move followed an announcement by Norton Simon that Esmark Inc.'s bid last Friday was ''not sufficiently attractive'' to keep Norton Simon from seeking alternatives. Anderson offered to acquire up to 14 million common shares, or about 52 percent of Norton Simon's stock outstanding, at $35 a share in cash, a total of $490 million. The company said it reserved the right to increase the number of shares it was seeking to 18.5 million and, depending on circumstances, to buy all 27.4 million shares.