The papal throne and
While still in the hospital, the Pope released a public statement indicating that he forgave the would-be assassin and was praying for him. Two years later, the Pope visited Agca in his prison cell.
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the assassination attempt
In October 1978, after the 33-day papacy of John Paul I, Karol Wojtyla was elected pope by the conclave of cardinals.
He was the first Slav to be elected pope, and the first non-Italian since 1523. He remains strongly attached to his homeland. He reads a Polish weekly newspaper, is attended by a group of Polish nuns and dines as often as possible with old friends from childhood. 
On May 13, 1981, the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, Mehmet Ali Agca shot, and nearly killed, the Pope as he stood in an open jeep in St. Peter's Square.
He traveled to Fatima's shrine in Portugal a year later to place the bullet that had struck him as an offering. The bullet now sits in the crown on the statue's head. 
After the shooting, a nearby nun grabbed Agca and the crowd subdued him. Once in custody, he confessed, and was sentenced to life in prison. Conspiracy theories abound about the assassination attempt, with suspicion falling on the Bulgarian security service. Agca, after initially insisting that he acted alone, implicated others. Three Bulgarians and five Turks, including Agca, were tried and acquitted of conspiracy.
The globe-trotting Pope
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