What is the most beautiful thing in the whole world? by Jessica Simorangkir
Answer by Jessica Simorangkir:
On May 13 1981, Pope John Paul II was crossing St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City when an attempt was made on his life.
Mehmet Ali Ağca, who had escaped from a Turkish prison after receiving a life sentence for murdering a journalist, fired four shots with a 9-millimeter pistol. Two struck the pope in his lower intestine, one in his right arm and one in his left index finger. Two bystanders were also wounded.
An Italian court sentenced Ağca to life in prison. The motive for the assassination attempt and its planners remains mysterious — theories and allegations have accused the CIA, the KGB, the Bulgarian government, the Turkish mafia and more.
In 1983, John Paul II visited his would-be assassin.
As the Pope arrived at the Agca’s cell in Rebibbia Prison in Italy, he looked at his would-be killer in the eye, shook his hand, and Agca kissed John Paul II’s hand.
The two talked quietly for 21 minutes. John Paul said,
“What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me, I spoke to him as brother whom I have pardoned, and who has my complete trust.”
After the meeting, the two shook hands and the Pope gave Agca a small gift in a white box, a rosary in silver and mother-of-pearl.
“Real peace is not just a matter of structures and mechanisms. It rests above all on the adoption of a style of human coexistence marked by mutual acceptance and a capacity to forgive from the heart. We all need to be forgiven by others, so we must all be ready to forgive. Asking and granting forgiveness is something profoundly worthy of every one of us,”
-Pope John Paul II.
The pope stayed in touch with Ağca’s family during the latter’s incarceration.
He was pardoned by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope’s request and was deported to Turkey in June 2000, where he was imprisoned for the life sentence he had fled decades prior, andwas finally released in 2010.
In December 2014, he returned to Rome and laid two dozen white roses at the pope’s tomb.
Forgiveness is the most beautiful thing in the world
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