Pope 'praying from heaven'

2006-01-09 18:41

Warsaw - Former pope John Paul II is "praying from heaven" for Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to kill the pontiff in 1981 and who is expected to be released from jail this week, said the pope's former private secretary on Monday.

Spokesperson Robert Necek said Stanslaw Dziwisz, who held the wounded pope in his arms after he had been shot, said he accepted the Turkish court's decision to release Agca.

Necek said Dziwisz, who was now the archbishop of Krakow in southern Poland, "is praying for Ali Agca and knows that the Holy Father is also praying for Ali Agca from heaven".

Necek added that Dziwisz "forgave Ali Agca a long time ago, with all his heart, just as the pope forgave him".

Agca, now 48, was a 23-year-old far-right militant on the run from the Turkish police after he opened fire on Pope John Paul II at St Peter's Square in Rome on May 13 1981.

The Polish-born pope had a serious wound to the abdomen and Agca spent the next 19 years in Italian prisons before being transferred to Turkey.

John Paul II eventually met his attacker in prison.

- AFP