Pope John Paul II is remembered for his successful efforts to end communism, as well as for building bridges with peoples of other faiths, and issuing the Catholic Church’s first apology for its actions during World War II. In his final years, he was forced to delegate many of his official duties, but still found the strength to speak to the faithful from a window at the Vatican. He began to develop slurred speech and had difficulty walking, though he continued to keep up a physically demanding travel schedule. Although it was not confirmed by the Vatican until 2003, many believe Pope John Paul II began suffering from Parkinson’s disease in the early 1990s. Six days later two million people packed Vatican City for his funeral-said to be the biggest funeral in history. He died two months later, on April 2, 2005, at his home in the Vatican. In February 2005, Pope John Paul II was hospitalized with complications from the flu. Extradited to Turkey, he began serving the eight years remaining on the sentence for his 1979 murder of the Turkish newspaper editor. Mehmet Ali Agca, who had guessed the alleged Fatima-assassination connection in 1985, was pardoned by Italian President Carolo Ciampi on June 14, 2000. Sodano described the secret as a “prophetic vision” in which “a bishop clothed in white…falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a burst of gunfire.” The Vatican interpreted this as a prediction of the attempt on John Paul II’s life. The same day, the Third Secret of Fatima was announced by Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano. On May 13, 2000, the 19th anniversary of the attempt on his life, the pope visited Fatima, Portugal. The pontiff had made 2000 a holy “Jubilee” year, of which forgiveness was to be a cornerstone. In the late 1990s, Pope John Paul II expressed his hope that the Italian government would pardon Mehmet in 2000. In 1986, the Bulgarian and Turkish defendants were acquitted for lack of evidence. The first message allegedly predicted World War II, the second the rise (and fall) of the Soviet Union, and the third was still a Vatican secret in 1985. The attack, he explained, was “tied to the Third Secret of the Madonna of Fatima.” The secrets of Fatima were three messages that Catholic tradition says the Virgin Mary imparted to three Portuguese shepherd children in an apparition in 1917. He explained that the Bulgarian scenario was concocted by Western intelligence officials, and that God had in fact led him to shoot John Paul II.
Further interrogations of Agca led to the arrest of three Bulgarians and three Turks, who went on trial in 1985.Īs the trial opened, the case against the Bulgarian and Turkish defendants collapsed when Agca, the state’s key witness, described himself as Jesus Christ and predicted the imminent end of the world. In 1983, despite these developments, the pope met with Mehmet in prison and offered him forgiveness.
Pope John Paul II was a fervent anti-communist who supported the Solidarity trade union in his native Poland, which seemed to make him an appropriate target for the communists. In 1982, Agca announced that his assassination attempt was actually part of a conspiracy involving the Bulgarian intelligence services, which was known to act on behalf of the KGB.
A handwritten note was found in his pocket that read: “I am killing the pope as a protest against the imperialism of the Soviet Union and the United States and against the genocide that is being carried out in Salvador and Afghanistan.” He pleaded guilty, saying he acted alone, and in July 1981 was sentenced to life in prison. Peter’s Square and shot the pope with a 9mm Browning automatic.
He took a room in a hotel near the Vatican and on May 13 walked into St. On May 9, 1981, Agca took a plane from Majorca to Milan and entered Italy under an assumed name.