The Pope Survives: John Paul II Endures Assassination Attempt
Mehmet Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II four times in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981, as the Pope rode in his open-topped Popemobile through a crowd of 20,000 people. Two bullets struck the Pope in the abdomen, perforating his colon and small intestine. Emergency surgery at Rome's Gemelli Hospital lasted five hours and required six units of blood. The Pope attributed his survival to the intervention of Our Lady of Fatima, whose feast day fell on May 13. Agca, a Turkish nationalist with murky connections to Bulgarian intelligence, was sentenced to life in prison. John Paul visited him in prison in 1983 and forgave him. Agca was pardoned by Italy in 2000 and deported to Turkey. The assassination attempt strengthened the Pope's moral authority and the Vatican's diplomatic influence during the Cold War.
May 13, 1981
45 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Rome
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Pope
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Mehmet Ali Ağca
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Pope John Paul II
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surgery
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1981 Pope John Paul II assassination attempt
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St. Peter's Square
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Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic
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attempts to assassinate
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Mehmet Ali Ağca
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Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II
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Pope John Paul II
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St. Peter's Square
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Gemelli University Hospital
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Surgery
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Santuario de Fátima
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Portugal
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Juan María Fernández y Krohn
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Vatican City
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Rome
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Basilique Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire de Fátima
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Apparitions mariales de Fátima
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Village
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Francisco Marto
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Jacinta Marto
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Sister Lúcia
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Camillo Cibin
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Fátima, Portugal
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Marian apparition
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Pastorinhos de Fátima
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Our Lady of Fátima
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Cova da Iria
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