POLAND/FILE: Pope John Paul II's home town museum puts on display gun used in 1981 assassination attempt

Record ID: 376872

  • Title: POLAND/FILE: Pope John Paul II's home town museum puts on display gun used in 1981 assassination attempt
  • Date: 7th April 2014
  • Summary: WADOWICE, POLAND (APRIL 7, 2014) (REUTERS) TOWN SQUARE PORTRAIT OF LATE POPE JOHN PAUL II ON CHURCH WALL JOURNALISTS / GUN USED IN JOHN PAUL II ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT DISPLAYED IN FLOOR VARIOUS OF GUN JOURNALISTS TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS IMAGES FROM MEDIA AFTER ATTACK DISPLAYED ON WALL PHOTOGRAPH OF JOHN PAUL II SHAKING HANDS WITH HIS ATTACKER, MEHMET ALI AGCA BLOOD STAINS ON S
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Vatican City State, Italy, Poland
  • City:
  • Country: Poland Italy Vatican City State
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABE68LOSQTH4LQUGJNONOAD5ZM
  • Story Text: The gun used in an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981 was displayed in his home town of Wadowice in Poland on Monday (April 7).
    John Paul II, whose name was also Karol Wojtyla, suffered life-threatening injuries in the attack and recovered slowly after undergoing surgery. He later forgave his attacker Mehmet Ali Agca and met him in prison.
    In the late pontiff's childhood home, now turned into a museum, the gun was displayed behind a glass tile in the floor on Monday.
    The Browning 9mm weapon has been loaned from the Italian Justice Ministry for three years.

    "This is very difficult souvenir," said the museums director, Father Dariusz Ras.

    "However, it seems that it is a good object to commemorate life, especially those few seconds of the tragic assassination attempt and later the recovery after the shooting."
    Wadowice is a small town full of symbols commemorating the late Pope and people still vividly remember the day when John Paul II's fate was in the balance after he was shot by Agca in the abdomen, arm and hand.

    "Here in Wadowice the whole square was full of people, they were praying, crying and praying the whole night long for his health and for him to survive. Thanks to Our Lady, she saved him," said Wladyslaw Grzeczynski.
    The Polish pontiff led the Catholic Church for 27 years and witnessed the fall of communism. He will be declared saint on April 27.
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