Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was escorted out of Iznik on Thursday ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the town.
Agca, a Turkish national, fired multiple shots at Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in May 1981, leaving the pontiff seriously wounded. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy, later transferred to Turkey, and finally released in January 2010 after serving 29 years.
Speaking to Turkish media on Thursday, Agca said he wished to meet Pope Leo XIV “for two or three minutes,” but authorities removed him from the area before the pope’s arrival, according to Halk TV.
Agca has previously expressed remorse for the attack. Pope John Paul II famously visited him in prison in 1983, where Agca repented but offered no clear explanation for his actions.
Pope Leo XIV is currently in Turkey on his first international trip as the head of the Catholic Church. His stop in Iznik marks the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, the historic 325 AD gathering that produced foundational statements of Christian faith.
