'Vatican helped me shoot pope'

2005-03-31 13:00

Rome - Turkish militant Mehmet Ali Agca, who in 1981 tried to kill the pope, has claimed that he had "help from the Vatican".

Agca told newspaper La Repubblica in an interview published on Thursday that without the support of certain priests and cardinals, he would not have been able to shoot Pope John Paul II twice.

"The devil is also behind the walls of the Vatican," said Agca, who was pardoned in Italy in 2000 but jailed in Turkey on his return over a killing prior to the papal assassination bid.

"The Vatican bears responsibility for the attack on the Pope," Agca was quoted as saying. "Without the help of some priests and cardinals I could not have done it."

Agca shot the pontiff in St Peter's Square on May 13 1981, severely wounding him in the stomach. The motivation behind the attack has never been fully revealed, with some theories suggesting that it was ordered by the KGB and carried out by the Bulgarian secret service, who contracted Agca as gunman.

Agca's own explanations have failed to shed light on the background to the crime and have frequently been contradictory. - dpa

- SAPA