John Paul II: The Second Assassination Attempt the World Was Never Meant to Know About

John Paul II: The Second Assassination Attempt the World Was Never Meant to Know About

On May 13, 1981, John Paul II was shot in St. Peter’s Square and survived. He was convinced that Our Lady of Fatima had saved his life. One year later, he traveled to Portugal to thank her. But on the eve of the anniversary, right in front of her altar, a priest in a cassock broke through the crowd with a bayonet and lunged at him.

The pope blessed his attacker and carried on. What almost no one knew is that the blade had wounded him, and he chose to tell no one. The truth came out only in 2008, three years after his death, when Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz finally broke his silence.

In this video, we tell the story of the second attack on John Paul II. We look at the man behind it, Juan María Fernández y Krohn, a priest ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and at why the pope may have kept that wound hidden: to protect the unity of the Church, and so that all eyes would stay on Our Lady, not on him.

At the end of the video, you’ll find a short prayer. Write it in the comments so we can pray it together for one another.

CHAPTERS
0:00 The attack no one saw coming
0:59 May 13, 1981: shots in St. Peter’s Square
2:05 A pilgrimage of thanksgiving to Fatima
2:35 The night of May 12, 1982
2:58 Who was Juan María Fernández y Krohn?
3:27 The bayonet attack at the altar
4:26 The hidden wound
5:36 Why did the pope stay silent?
6:44 A pope who refused to look like a martyr
7:33 2008: Cardinal Dziwisz breaks his silence
8:01 The bullet in Our Lady’s crown
8:32 Forgiveness, from Ağca to the priest of Fatima
9:43 A prayer for the wounds no one sees

SOURCES
– John Paul II, Homily at the Shrine of Fatima, May 13, 1982 (vatican.va)
– John Paul II, Regina Caeli message from Gemelli Hospital, May 17, 1981 (vatican.va)
– Stanisław Dziwisz, A Life with Karol (Doubleday, 2008)
– Testimony (Świadectwo), documentary directed by Paweł Pitera, 2008
– La Vanguardia, May 14, 1982, front page

#JohnPaulII #Fatima #OurLadyOfFatima #CatholicChurch #Catholic #SaintJohnPaulII #Faith

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