Published: May 13, 2008 10:52 pm            

Bruce's History Lessons: A close call for Pope John Paul II in 1981

This week (May 13) in 1981, Mehmet Ali Agca, a terrorist and convicted murderer who had escaped from prison in his native Turkey, shot Pope John Paul II twice at close range during the Pope’s weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square. The Pope was immediately rushed to nearby Gemelli Hospital where surgeons desperately attempted to save his life.

It was a close call. One bullet had entered the Pope’s abdomen, causing a perforated colon, multiple wounds in his small intestine and massive bleeding. Five hours of surgery was required before the Pope was stabilized, and even then he was lucky. The bullet missed his spinal column and major nerve areas by millimeters, probably because it first hit the Pope’s finger, thus partially deflecting it. Otherwise, the Pope might well have died and almost certainly would have been paralyzed.

As for Agca, he was immediately seized by nearby onlookers and handed over to the police. He was subsequently tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison — and ever since, questions about why he did it and who was really behind it continue to be debated.

One theory posits that Agca belonged to an Islamic terrorist group bent on killing the head of a religion whose antagonism against Islam dates back to the Crusades. Another theory posits that Agca was mentally deranged — he certainly acted the part at his trial — and shot the Pope for reasons only he knows.

But the most plausible theory is that Agca, who prior to the shooting had traveled extensively, stayed in expensive hotels, and was well funded, was recruited by Bulgarian intelligence officers to carry out the assassination. Subsequent investigations concluded “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Bulgarian agents had repeatedly interacted with Agca prior to May 13.

Which begs the question. Why would Bulgarians want the Pope dead? The answer, according to more than one official investigation, is that the Bulgarians — at the time their country was under the “Iron Curtain” of Soviet control — were acting on orders from their Soviet masters.

The Soviets certainly had motive — the Polish-born John Paul II was outspoken in his support of Poland’s Solidarity movement, which was the first-ever independent political organization behind the Iron Curtain and a serious threat to Soviet control of Eastern Europe. And if, as seems certain, the Bulgarians were involved, it defies credulity that they would attack someone of the Pope’s stature without Soviet consent.

In any case, since we may never know for sure, Pope John Paul II’s own theory is as good as any. Agca was sent by the devil, the Pope believed, but God prevailed. Or as he later put it, “One hand fired and another hand guided the bullet.”

Bruce Kauffmann’s e-mail address is bruce@history

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