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WALKING TOURS OF ROME

The Day Pope John Paul II Was Shot

4/7/2019

 
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Plaque marking the spot where Pope John Paul II was shot, St Peter's Square, Rome
Plaque, in St Peters Square, marking the spot where Pope John Paul II was shot

Embedded in the shiny, black cobble-stones of Piazza San Pietro is a small, white marble plaque, which is engraved with the coat of arms of John Paul II (r. 1978-2005). The plaque marks the place where the pope was shot on May 13th, 1981. 

​In 1981, May 13th fell on a Wednesday, the day the pope holds a weekly audience in St Peter's Square. John Paul II had just entered the piazza in an open car (the so-called pope-mobile) when Mehmet Ali Agca, a twenty-three year old Turk, fired four shots at him, one of which hit the pope in the abdomen and another his left hand. The two other bullets struck two innocent bystanders.

The pope spent three weeks in hospital; the would-be assassin was sentenced to life imprisonment. 
 In June 2000, after serving almost 20 years in prison, Ağca was pardoned (at the pope's request) by the Italian president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, and deported to Turkey.

John Paul II fervently believed that his life had been saved through the intervention of the Virgin Mary, to whom he was particularly devoted. And so, in thanks, he had a mosaic of the Madonna and Child placed in an aedicule, overlooking the side of the square in which he was shot. ​The image is entitled MATER ECCLESIAE (Mother of the Church). 

On May 13th, 1984, John Paul II visited the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. (It was on her feast day that he had been shot.) The pope presented to the shrine the bullet that had entered his body. The bullet was later set in the crown of precious stones, which adorns the statue of the Virgin Mary. 

Plaque marking the spot where Pope John Paul II was shot, St Peter's Square, Rome
Plaque (in the foreground) marking the spot where Pope John Paul II was shot
Mosaic of Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church), St Peter's Square, Rome
'Mother of the Church' mosaic
Bullet embedded in the crown of the Virgin Mary, shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal
Bullet embedded in the crown of Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal

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    Walking Tours For Discerning Travellers

    My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private and
    small-group walking tours
    of Rome.

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  • Home
  • Private Tours
  • Small-Group Tours
  • Contact
  • Rome
  • St Peter's Basilica
    • Altars >
      • Altar of St Joseph
      • Altar of St Gregory the Great
      • Altar of the Madonna of Succour
      • Altar of St Sebastian
      • Altar of the Lie
      • Altar of the Presentation of the Virgin
      • Altar of St Jerome
      • Altar of the Transfiguration
      • Altar of Pope Leo the Great
    • Monuments >
      • Countess Matilda of Canossa
      • Maria Clementina Sobieska
      • Queen Christina of Sweden
      • Pope Innocent VIII
      • Pope Paul III
      • Pope Gregory XIII
      • Pope Gregory XIV
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      • Pope Urban VIII
      • Pope Alexander VII
      • Pope Clement X
      • Pope Innocent XI
      • Pope Alexander VIII
      • Pope Innocent XII
      • Pope Benedict XIV
      • Pope Clement XIII
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      • Pope Pius X
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      • Pope John XXIII
      • The Stuarts
    • Portico >
      • Door of Death
      • Door of Good and Evil
      • Central Door
      • Door of the Sacraments
      • Holy Door
    • Pieta
    • Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
    • Cathedra Petri
    • Crossing >
      • Baldacchino
      • Confessio
      • Dome
      • St Longinus
      • St Helena
      • St Veronica
      • St Andrew
    • St Peter
    • Chapel of the Choir
    • Chapel of the Baptistery
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  • Sistine Chapel
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      • Ceiling: Part Two
      • Ceiling: Part Three
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    • Fountain of the Turtles
    • Fountain of the Naiads
    • Fountain of the Cannonball
    • Piazza del Popolo
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    • Fountains of Piazza Farnese
    • Fountain of Goddess Roma
    • Rioni Fountains
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    • St Peter's Square
    • Fountain of the Moor
    • Fountain of Neptune
    • Fountain of the Porter
    • Fountain of the Seahorses
  • Gallery
    • Piazzas >
      • Piazza del Campidglio
      • Piazza del Quirinale
      • Piazza del Popolo
      • Piazza di Spagna
      • Piazza Navona
      • Piazza S. M. in Trastevere
      • Piazza San Pietro
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    • Fountains
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    • Ancient Rome
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    • Domes
    • Papal Coats of Arms
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    • Old Photographs
    • Borromini & the Baroque