I'm reading here on a French blog that Pope John Paul II's would be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, has embraced the Catholic Faith as of May 13, 2007 (note the date!) 26 years after attempting to kill the Holy Father.There is no news of this anywhere in the anglosphere, so if you read it here, you're probably getting it first (I love a scoop!)
Will loosely translate This article
Agca wrote a letter from his Turkish prison cell in which he declared to have abjured the Muslim faith (oy, brave man!) and this letter was published in the Italian weekly Diva e donna.
"J'ai décidé de retourner pacifiquement sur la place (Saint-Pierre à Rome) et de témoigner devant le monde entier de ma conversion au catholicisme", poursuit-il dans cette lettre rédigée en italien, selon Diva et donna. "Je voudrais, seulement pour un jour, retourner à Rome prier sur la tombe de Jean Paul II pour lui exprimer toute ma reconnaissance filiale pour son pardon", ajoute-t-il.
Translation:
I have decided to return peacefully to St. Peter's Square and to witness to the whole world of my conversion to Catholicism. I would like, only for a day, to return to Rome to pray at Pope John Paul II's tomb to express all my filial gratitude for his forgiveness.
Interrogé par l'AFP en Turquie, son ancien avocat Mustafa Demirbag, s'est dit "très sceptique" sur cette conversion.
Questioned by the Agence France Press in Turkey, his former lawyer Mustafa Demirbag said he was very skeptical of this conversion.
(Well, his renunciation of Islam can't be that half-hearted)
Pour être reconnu comme catholique, une simple déclaration ne suffit pas et un long cheminement aboutissant au baptême est nécessaire. Ali Agca dit en outre avoir exprimé son "souhait (de se rendre place Saint-Pierre) au pape Benoît XVI", sans avoir reçu "aucune réponse jusqu'ici" et affirme avoir informé le Vatican de sa conversion
Translation:
To be considered Catholic, a simple declaration is not enough, and a long journey ending in baptism is necessary. Ali Agca said he expressed his "wish" to Pope Benedict XVI without having received, up to now, any response up to now, and affirms having told the Vatican about his conversion.
(Sounds like secular media having some kind of sour grapes over this).
"Pour le Vatican, je suis peut-être resté l'homme qui tenta d'assassiner le pape polonais, mais aujourd'hui j'ai changé, je suis un homme différent", affirme-t-il. Jean Paul II avait pardonné à son agresseur qu'il avait rencontré en prison en 1983.
Translation:
"For the Vatican, I will perhaps always remain the man who attempted to assassinate the Polish Pope, but today, I have changed, I am a different man," he affirmed. John Paul II had forgiven his attacker, whom he met in prison in 1983.
La justice italienne a à son tour passé l'éponge après avoir maintenu l'ancien militant ultra-nationaliste en prison pendant 19 ans, mais l'a remis en 2000 aux autorités turques qui le réclamaient pour purger deux peines auxquelles il avait été condamné en Turquie, l'une pour une attaque de banque commise dans les années 1970 et l'autre pour le meurtre d'un journaliste turc en 1979. (belga/th)
The Italian Justice System kept this militant ultra-nationalist in prison for 19 years, but handed him over to Turkish authorities in 2000, who wanted him to go to prison for two years after being condemned for two crimes; one for an attack on a bank committed in the 1970, and the other for a murder of a Turkish journalist in 1979.
An acquaintance of mine, Scott Richert, does not put too much stock in the report. It seems that many people question Agca's mental stability.
I'm kind of sorry to hear that.
