Istanbul
A Turkish court last week ordered the release of the man who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. Mehmet Ali Agca shot the pope in Vatican Square, wounding him in the stomach. Two years later, John Paul visited Agca in prison and forgave him, and Agca apologized and kissed the pope’s ring. Now 48, Agca served almost 20 years in prison in Italy before he was extradited to Turkey in 2000. The court said that since Agca has posed no disciplinary problems, he can be released on parole. Ferdinando Imposimato, the retired Italian judge who led the investigation into the assassination attempt, said he believes the Kremlin was behind the shooting, because it did not want a Polish pope stirring up anti-communism in Poland. “I am convinced that once he is free, Agca’s life will be in grave danger because he knows many truths about the plot,” Imposimato said.
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