Twenty years after the shooting

May 13, 1981. Time: 5:13 p.m. Pope John Paul II, standing in a white jeep, is crossing St. Peter’s Square which is filled with 40,000 faithful, who have come from every part of the world for the general audience with the pope on Wednesday. Suddenly two shots ring out. The pope falls into the arms of his secretary Mgr. Stanislaus Dziewisz.
Someone tried to kill the pontiff. The images of the Holy Father falling backwards, mortally wounded, are broadcast to televisions throughout the world. The world is stunned.

An invisible presence

This is one of the most shocking news items of the twentieth century. But it is also one of the most enigmatic events, ripe with mysterious spiritual meaning. In the midst of the crowd, on that hot Roman afternoon, something most wondrous happened, and the forces of evil and of good both played a role. Pope John Paul II himself revealed this: One hand fired a shot, and another altered the course of the bullet. Someone wanted to kill the pope, but an invisible presence intervened to prevent the bullet from hitting vital organs which would have caused his death.
Twenty years have passed. That fact not only changed the life of John Paul II completely and in an unexpected way, but it also influenced the history of the Church and the destiny of mankind at the end of the second millennium.
But let’s get back to the news account. It was a warm and breezy Wednesday in Rome. At close to 1 p.m. John Paul II was having lunch with Professor Jerome Lejeune, the famous French geneticist, a leader of the International Pro-Life Movement. They spoke about the referendum to legalise abortion, which was to be held in Italy four days later on May 17. The pope was fighting with every ounce of strength to tell everyone that legalising abortion was actually legalising murder.
At 5 p.m. the white jeep appeared under the Arch of the Bells. The crowd exploded in applause. The pope, behind the driver, stood smiling and waving to the faithful. He was a strong man, wiry and agile, athletic. On May 18, five days later, he would celebrate his 61^st birthday, but he only looked 50.
Usually on Wednesdays, when the general audience was held outdoors, the pope circled around the square once or twice, then got out of the jeep to talk to the faithful.

A tireless warrior

That May 13 was the 64^th anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, but nobody in Italy even mentioned this fact. Fatima wasn’t as popular as it is today. It was something that Catholics knew about, but not something which held their attention for very long.
The jeep slowly proceeded along the aisles formed by wooden barricades. The pilgrims waved, and a few raised their children so that the pope could take them in his arms and bless them.
The crowd greeted the pope with incredible enthusiasm. Karol Wojtyla had ascended to the throne of St. Peter only three years before, but he had already won everyone over. His jovial and sporting ways made him very popular. He had brought a revolution to the Vatican. He had a swimming pool built to keep fit. He went skiing incognito. His poems and theatrical writings were published.
Never before had the world seen such a dynamic and modern pope sit on the throne of Peter. Moreover, he came from the east, from Poland, a communist country, whose atheist-Marxist ideology was extremely powerful and had connections throughout the world. It was well known that he was a tireless warrior against communist atheism, but once he took the throne, he became a threat to international Communism. He fought that ideology with every fibre of his being. Six months after his election he was able to return to his native country on an official visit, and had brought millions of people into the squares spreading panic in the Kremlin. But this open faced fight drew the attention and sympathy of the masses.
The white jeep slowed down. John Paul II had picked up a baby girl with blond curls, and raised her to show the crowd, he kissed her on the forehead and gave her back to her father. In that very moment, the people closest to the pope heard the dull, muffled sound of two shots. A group of pigeons took flight in fear. Those further away never heard the shot, they only saw the pontiff lose his balance and fall into the arms of his secretary.

A young Turk

It was 5:13 p.m. There was a moment of confusion in St. Peter’s Square. But then everyone understood the gravity of what had happened. The pope was bleeding from the abdomen and his left hand was covered in blood. He’s been shot, shouted the pope’s secretary. The driver sped towards the closest ambulance which was parked near the Bronze Door. The pope was transferred to the ambulance and taken to Gemelli Hospital.
In the meantime, there was great commotion in the square at the place where the incident had taken place. A few people held down a young man. The police arrived immediately to take him away from the crowd who wanted to lynch him. He was the one who fired the shots. As was later discovered, he was a young Turk, Ali Agca, 23 years old, professional killer, wanted by police throughout the world. He hid behind the pilgrims who were standing in the front row along the wooden barricade and shot at the pope from close range using a Browning 9 mm semiautomatic.
The ambulance with the pope raced through the streets of Rome and arrived at the hospital in just eight minutes. Normally, this same route takes half an hour. An emergency plan was already in effect.
The hospital had been alerted with the words: The pope has been hit. Rooms are always kept ready for an emergency of this type on the tenth floor of the hospital, but nobody ever imagined that they would ever be used.
Along the route, as Mgr. Dziewisz later revealed, the pope never lost consciousness; he continued to mutter prayers, but his life force seemed to drift away. This became obvious as the colour drained from his face and his pulse weakened. Once at the hospital, the first doctors to examine him realised that he had lost consciousness. That was the most tragic moment. The pope appeared to be dead. While he was being taken to the tenth floor, doctors were performing cardiac massage. Mgr. Dziewisz, with tears in his eyes, gave him the Sacrament of the Sick. Some quick tests were performed, then he was taken to the operating room on the ninth floor.

A five-hour operation

At the time of the shooting one of the Heads of Surgery, Prof. Francesco Crucitti, was at another hospital on the Via Aurelia. As soon as he received notice of the shooting he jumped in his car. Knowing that every second counted, he went the wrong way down a one-way street and then took off at break-neck speed. He entered the hospital fearing that there wouldn’t be a free lift available because at times there can be upto a five minute wait! Instead, he found that all the lifts were there, on the ground floor, ready and waiting.
He went to the ninth floor. Assistants and nurses grabbed him and quickly dressed him in operating garb. While he was scrubbing, he heard someone from the operating room shout Pressure at eighty, seventy, and still dropping, and a chill ran down everyone’s spine. The risk of losing Karol Wojtyla for ever was great.
Prof. Crucitti went to work. The bullet had devastated the pontiff’s abdomen. The surgeon cut with his scalpel and found, as he later said, Blood, a lot of blood, there must have been three litres. They had to stop the haemorrhage which was the most life-threatening concern at the moment. Next came the transfusions, which improved the pope’s condition and allowed them to proceed with the actual operation.
Exploring the pope’s abdomen, Prof. Crucitti found several lesions. The bullet had perforated the colon and caused five lesions to the small intestine. The world was holding its breath. Everyone was waiting for news about the pope’s condition, but definite news was released only at 8 p.m. The first press conference declared that the pope’s situation was slightly improved.
The operation lasted five hours. Doctors removed 55 cm of intestine, however, Karol Wojtyla’s strong constitution responded well. At 12:45 a.m. on May 14, the doctors released further news saying that the surgery had gone well and the Holy Father’s condition was satisfactory.
All night long, in St. Peter’s Square and in front of the hospital, faithful pilgrims held prayer vigils. A group of Polish pilgrims, from the shrine of Czestochowa, had brought with them a painting of the Black Madonna. Immediately after the shooting they placed it on the chair the pontiff was supposed to use during his speech, and they began to recite the rosary. At a certain point, a strong wind blew it over. There was a note on the back which had been written several days earlier: Blessed Mother, protect the Holy Father from every evil. Ali Agca had shot the pope. But as it turned out, he was only a pawn of the forces of evil.

The secret of Fatima

John Paul II remained in the ICU for four days. When he was out of danger he asked Prof. Crucitti for details about the operation. The surgeon confessed his worries at the time and explained the condition of the abdomen as he found it.
I noticed something incredible, said Prof. Crucitti. The bullet seemed to zigzag through the abdomen missing the vital organs. It just missed the aorta. If that had been hit the pope would have bled to death long before reaching the hospital. It also missed the spine and other important nerves. It seemed as if it had been guided so as not to cause permanent damage.
Those words echoed in the pope’s ears. Someone told him that the shooting happened on May 13, the anniversary of the first apparition of the Blessed Mother at Fatima. John Paul II remembered that the ‘secret of Fatima’ was still in the Vatican. He had it brought to him and read it there in the hospital.

A prophecy fulfilled

That secret was written by Sr. Lucia in 1944 and was handed to Pope Pius XII. Sr. Lucia explained that it was the Blessed Mother who insisted that the third secret be kept hidden until 1960. After that date it could be revealed according to the discretion of the Holy Father.
The first pope who could have made the secret public was Pope John XXIII. However, after having read the message he decided to keep it a secret. The following popes Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II did the same.
Now, something related to what was written on that sheet of paper had happened. Now, we know what it was. Last August the Holy Father wanted to make the pages written by Sr. Lucia public. They undoubtedly contain certain passages which point to this attempted assassination. We can read We saw a bishop dressed in white, we had the sensation that it was the Holy Father, various other bishops, priests and religious climbing a steep mountain, at the top of which was a great cross made of rough tree trunks, almost like cork trees with their bark. The Holy Father, who arrived first, walked through a large city which lay half in ruin, and, with a wobbly step, half tremulous and afflicted by pain, he prayed for the souls of the dead that he saw along his path. When he reached the top of the mountain, he knelt in front of the cross and was killed by a group of soldiers who shot him with bullets and arrows...
The vision was clear. The pope recognised himself in that passage. He meditated on those words for some time. He contacted Sr. Lucia for more information. He understood that his existence had been guided by God since its very beginning. The Virgin of Fatima had ‘spoken’ about him in 1917, before he was even born.

A Walking Calvary

The life of John Paul II took on a new direction. He understood that his mission was to walk towards the great cross on top of the steep mountain for the salvation of the world. He had to offer his life for others.
What happened next is history. The life of John Paul II has been a continuous, painful ‘Way of the Cross’. Illness, accidents, hospital stays, operations, followed one after the other. They continued to hammer his body. One look at him and you can see that he is a ‘Walking Calvary’.
All this took shape in the mystery of Fatima. John Paul II has gone to that holy shrine three times. And since the beginning he has freely admitted that his life had been spared through the intervention of the Blessed Mother. One hand fired a shot, and another altered the course of the bullet. As the Blessed Mother had said several times in vain, she wanted to consecrate the entire world, and Russia in particular, to her Immaculate Heart. He sped up the beatification process for the two children Francisco and Jacinta who along with Sr. Lucia saw Our Lady in 1917, and wanted the ceremony to take place in Fatima during the celebrations of the Great Jubilee of 2000. He also wanted to reveal the ‘third secret’ that everyone was talking about.
In these past twenty years which have followed the attempted assassination, John Paul II has lived in the shadow of Fatima and perhaps only in the distant future will we ever know what catastrophes for mankind he was able to avoid by offering himself and his continued sufferings to God.