The 40th anniversary of the assassination attempt on John Paul II is an opportunity to remember this event, which made the world “hold its breath”as it awaited news of the Pope’s health, and to focus – regardless of religion – on his person. The pontificate of the Polish Pope could have ended at that time, after 2.5 years, but God wanted it differently… John Paul II was in God’s hands. It was this faith that determined the fact that, just after the assassin’s bullets, on his way to the clinic, the Pope – as he himself confessed – “had the feeling that he would survive”, “suffered, but had such confidence”. It was a moment in which it was confirmed that the motto of his pontificate: “do not be afraid, open the door to Christ”, was not a slogan but a deep conviction flowing from faith.
This is testified to above all by the descriptions contained in three publications. The main witness is the person of the papal secretary, Father Stanislaw Dziwisz, but the texts also include statements by John Paul II and the doctors.
During 1981, a book was being written – an interview between John Paul II and the French writer André Frossard, under the title “Be not afraid! Pope John Paul II Speaks out on his Life, his Beliefs and his Inspiring Vision for Humanity”. It was published in the autumn of the following year. The chapter “The Assassination Attempt” contains the description of the event in the narration of pilgrims and Father Dziwisz and also the doctors who saved the Holy Father’s life in hospital. The writer very discreetly directs the statements of the witnesses, conveying the drama of the event. Frossard’s description retains special significance because it was written the earliest, in the first months after the assassination on the basis of interviews with witnesses.
In the 1990s, the philosophers Father Józef Tischner and Krzysztof Michalski held conversations with John Paul II. One of the conversations, with the participation of Father Stanislaw Dziwisz, concerned the assassination attempt on 13 May 1981. The record of this conversation is of great importance because of the Pope’s statements and his reference to the meetings with Ali Agca, his mother and family, as well as to the Fatima secret. It should be noted that this text was published a few years later in the book “Memory and Identity. Conversations at the turn of the millennium” in 2005.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the assassination and the conferment of the honoris causa doctorate at the Catholic University of Lublin on Bishop Stanislaw Dziwisz (13 May 2001), the laureate gave a speech in which he spoke again in detail about the dramatic event of many years ago. It was published in an occasional small book.
These three publications form one report about the assassination attempt. But it is important to bear in mind the chronology of their production. The first one is a journalistic account, in the next two there appear, apart from facts and memories, also reflections on the historical and theological meaning of the assassination attempt on the life of John Paul II.
Fr. Andrzej Dobrzyński
Fot. SFR