JPII Knifed at Fatima

Posted by Tom McFeely

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 2:42 PM

John Paul II prays at Fatima in 1982. (CNS)

That might seem to be a far-fetched headline.

But according to Pope John Paul II’s former secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul was indeed wounded by a knife-wielding deranged priest when he visited Fatima, Portugal, in 1982.

Cardinal Dziwisz discussed the May 12, 1982, attack in “Testimony,” a new Polish-produced documentary film based on the biographical book of the same name that Cardinal Dziwisz published last year.

The documentary contains some details about John Paul’s life that weren’t included in the book, Reuters reported, including the fact that the Fatima assailant’s knife actually reached John Paul and cut him before the priest was subdued by police and arrested.

“I can now reveal that the Holy Father was wounded,” Cardinal Dziwisz, who is now the archbishop of Krakow, Poland, says in the film. “When we got back to the room [in the Fatima sanctuary complex] there was blood.”

Ironically, John Paul was visiting the Catholic shrine to give thanks to Our Lady of Fatima. He credited Mary’s intercession with deflecting a bullet fired by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca away from his heart, thereby sparing his life.

That assassination attempt, which gravely wounded the late Pope, took place on May 13, 1981 — the anniversary of the first Marian apparition at Fatima in 1917.

The official premiere of “Testimony” will take place tomorrow evening at the Vatican, in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI.

— Tom McFeely

Filed under cardinal dziwisz, fatima, john paul ii