A weird turn of event of the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul ii. This incident also what led to the installation of the iconic bulletproof glass canopy on the popemobile.
A weird turn of event of the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul ii. This incident also what led to the installation of the iconic bulletproof glass canopy on the popemobile.
On 13 May 1981, during a public audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul II was riding in an open popemobile and greeting crowds when Mehmet Ali AÄŸca fired multiple shots at close range, hitting the Pope and 2 other bystanders. 2 bullets hit the Pope; one struck his torso, narrowly missing vital organs, and a second hit his left index finger. The pope was rushed to Gemelli Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and narrowly survived after losing a large amount of blood.
AÄŸca was immediately arrested at the scene and later sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy. 2 years passed, Pope John Paul II visited AÄŸca in prison and publicly forgave him.
Later on 27 December 2014, Ağca visited the tomb of John Paul II. He desired to become a Catholic priest in 2016 and go to Fátima, Portugal to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions there (Our Lady of Fátima).
The motive for this assassination attempt remains unclear and contested, largely because he gave inconsistent and often contradictory explanations over time. Initially, he claimed political motives tied to islamic extremism and anti-Western sentiment. In 1979, in a signed letter to the independent daily Milliyet, the paper whose editor was murdered also by Ali Agca in february, the fugitive called the Pontiff “the masked leader of the Crusades,” and warned that if the visit were not canceled he would shoot the Roman Catholic leader in “revenge” for the recent attack on the Grand Mosque in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, an attack that he alleged was of American or Israeli origin.
The Italian investigators later proposed the so-called “Bulgarian connection” theory, suggesting the attack may have been encouraged by Soviet-aligned intelligence services who viewed John Paul II as a threat because of his suppoor Poland’s Solidarity movement. however, this theory was largely dubious. A former CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman claimed that his colleagues, following orders, had falsified their analysis to support the accusation. He declared to the US Senate intelligence committee that “the CIA hadn’t any proof” concerning this alleged “Bulgarian connection”.
Forsaken-Peak8496 on
Oh hey its the assassin that got converted by his almost victim. Wild stuff
Prudent_Opinion_1033 on
This story has better character development than most shows
FastAd593 on
I keep forgetting that its just the popemobile
Business-Gas-5473 on
This is extremely misleading. Agca was not a jihadist. He was a Turkish nationalist. More importantly, he was (and still is) clearly mentally ill, and one shouldn’t really take his motives or interviews too seriously.
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On 13 May 1981, during a public audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul II was riding in an open popemobile and greeting crowds when Mehmet Ali AÄŸca fired multiple shots at close range, hitting the Pope and 2 other bystanders. 2 bullets hit the Pope; one struck his torso, narrowly missing vital organs, and a second hit his left index finger. The pope was rushed to Gemelli Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and narrowly survived after losing a large amount of blood.
AÄŸca was immediately arrested at the scene and later sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy. 2 years passed, Pope John Paul II visited AÄŸca in prison and publicly forgave him.
Later on 27 December 2014, Ağca visited the tomb of John Paul II. He desired to become a Catholic priest in 2016 and go to Fátima, Portugal to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions there (Our Lady of Fátima).
The motive for this assassination attempt remains unclear and contested, largely because he gave inconsistent and often contradictory explanations over time. Initially, he claimed political motives tied to islamic extremism and anti-Western sentiment. In 1979, in a signed letter to the independent daily Milliyet, the paper whose editor was murdered also by Ali Agca in february, the fugitive called the Pontiff “the masked leader of the Crusades,” and warned that if the visit were not canceled he would shoot the Roman Catholic leader in “revenge” for the recent attack on the Grand Mosque in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, an attack that he alleged was of American or Israeli origin.
The Italian investigators later proposed the so-called “Bulgarian connection” theory, suggesting the attack may have been encouraged by Soviet-aligned intelligence services who viewed John Paul II as a threat because of his suppoor Poland’s Solidarity movement. however, this theory was largely dubious. A former CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman claimed that his colleagues, following orders, had falsified their analysis to support the accusation. He declared to the US Senate intelligence committee that “the CIA hadn’t any proof” concerning this alleged “Bulgarian connection”.
Oh hey its the assassin that got converted by his almost victim. Wild stuff
This story has better character development than most shows
I keep forgetting that its just the popemobile
This is extremely misleading. Agca was not a jihadist. He was a Turkish nationalist. More importantly, he was (and still is) clearly mentally ill, and one shouldn’t really take his motives or interviews too seriously.