May 13, 1981
Pope John Paul II was shot in St Peter’s Square in Rome in front of 20,000 worshipers. Police in the square apprehended Turkish citizen Mehmet Ali Ağca after the shooting. The Pope forgave the shooter while he was in the ambulance on his way to the hospital moments after being shot. He later wrote, “The act of forgiveness is the first and fundamental condition so that we aren’t divided and placed one against another like enemies. It’s important that not even an episode like that of May 13 succeeds in opening an abyss between two men, creating a silence that would result in breaking all forms of communication.”
