February 02 ,2013: Addressing journalists on Friday, Fr. Federico Lombardi, director
of the Holy See Press Office, denied several claims made by Mehmet Ali Agca in a new
autobiography that was released on January 31st. Agca is responsible for the attempted
assassination of Pope John Paul II on May 13th, 1981 in St. Peter's Square.
The
autobiography is entitled "They Promised Me Paradise: My Life and The Truth on the
Assassination of the Pope" and was written by Agca with the help of a ghost writer.
Among
the claims made by the Turkish assassin was that the assassination attempt was ordered
by Grand Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. Agca also claims that Pope John Paul II had urged
him to convert to Christianity.
"Should we believe Agca this time?" stated
Fr. Lombardi. "I don't think so." The director of the Holy See Press office went on
to say that he discussed Agca's claims with Cardinal Stanslaw Dzwisz, who served as
Pope John Paul II's secretary at the time and was the only person present at the meeting
between the Holy Father and the assassin.
According to Fr. Lombardi, Cardinal
Dziwisz confirmed that the late Holy Father and Agca discussed the secret of Fatima
and the inexplicable nature of Pope John Paul's survival of the attack. However, the
former secretary of Pope John Paul II strongly denied that any such conversation regarding
Ayatollah Khomeini's involvement in the assassination or that the Holy Father urged
Agca to convert to Christianity took place.
Cardinal Dziwisz also denied another
claim by Agca that Pope John Paul II had sent a letter sometime after the meeting
urging Agca once again to convert to Christianity. According to the Cardinal, no such
letter exists.
Agca claimed that Pope Benedict XVI has also written to him,
asking him for prayers as well as urging him to convert, claims that Fr. Federico
Lombardi strongly denied.
"Practically everything that was my responsibility
and that I have been able to verify is false," Fr. Lombardi said regarding the book's
claims. "The other hundred or so versions of the facts that Agca has given now, along
with his previous claims, are a bit too much to be believable."