Pope gunman Mehmet Ali Agca visits John Paul II’s grave

Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish former extremist who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II, on Saturday laid flowers on the late pontiff’s tomb. The latest highly publicised act of contrition by Agca came 31 years to the day after John Paul visited him in prison in Rome to forgive him for the 1981 shooting that nearly killed the leader of the world’s Catholics. Agca, then 23, shot the pope twice from close range in St Peter’s Square, one bullet passing through his abdomen and another narrowly missing his heart. He arrived back in Rome unexpectedly on Saturday and presented himself to police to declare his intention to lay the flowers.

I felt the need to make this gesture.

Mehmet Ali Agca told police

Granted authorisation to pay his respects under a discreet police escort, Agca was filmed by the ADNKronos news agency murmuring a prayer at the side of the tomb after he had deposited his bouquet of white roses. Agca requested a meeting with Pope Francis when the current pontiff visited Turkey last month. That was declined, as was a fresh request for an audience this weekend in Rome. The motive for Agca’s 1981 attack on the pope remains a mystery. He served nearly three decades in prisons in Italy and Turkey and is widely considered to be mentally disturbed.

Mehmet Ali Europe