THE MAN who almost killed Pope John Paul II in an assassination attempt in St Peter’s Square in Rome in May 1981, has been released from prison in Ankara, Turkey.
True to form, the enigmatic Mehmet Ali Agca, who has spent the last 29 years in prison, immediately issued an apocalyptic statement which begs questions about his mental wellbeing:
“Article 4: I declare that the end of the world has come. By the end of this century, the entire world will be destroyed, every human will be dead. Article 5: The Bible is full of mistakes. I will write the perfect bible.”
A Cold War figure, originally involved with right-wing Turkish terrorist group the Grey Wolves, Agca may hold the key to one of the most intriguing espionage mysteries of modern times – on whose orders was he working in St Peter’s Square?
Agca made world headlines on May 13th, 1981, when, at the end of a public papal audience, he hit Pope John Paul II with four bullets as the pontiff was saluting the faithful. Hit twice in the stomach and in his arm and hand, John Paul almost died from his wounds. Agca was arrested within minutes when he was surrounded and blocked by pilgrims in the crowded square.
Over the years, Agca offered confusing testimony about the assassination attempt, often seeming to change his story. At first, he said he had acted alone. Later he claimed he had acted on orders of the Bulgarian secret police who, in turn, were working for the Soviet KGB.
Later again, Agca claimed he was the new messiah and that, as such, he had been “called” to kill John Paul. However Italian magistrates have always believed that Agca faked madness and changed his story as a result of threats on his life by KGB operatives.
The magistrates and many commentators are convinced Agca was a hired killer recruited by the Bulgarians at the request of the Soviets who wished to eliminate the pope because of his fierce opposition to communism and his potential to undermine the Eastern Bloc system.