Attempting to assasinate the pope does not make one a Catholic.
Catholic Ping
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Posted on 01/25/2010 7:51:55 AM PST by NYer
ZAGREB – The Turkish man, who attempted to kill Pope John Paul II in1981, has said he wants political asylum in staunchly Catholic Croatia, where he plans to write a new Bible, a local daily reported on Sunday.
"If Croatia gives me political asylum, I would be glad to come and live in Croatia," Mehmet Ali Agca said in a message delivered through his lawyers to the influential Vecernji List daily.
"Croatia is a Catholic country and I am a Catholic. I am preparing to write a new Bible and correct mistakes and I would like to do that in Catholic Croatia since Italy and Spain refused to grant me asylum," the daily quoted the 52-year-old as saying.
Almost 90 percent of Croatia's population of 4.4 million are Roman Catholics.
Croatian officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.
Agca was released from a Turkish prison earlier this month after serving nearly three decades behind bars. In rambling letters from prison, he had fed suggestions he is mentally disturbed.
Agca recently said in a written statement through his lawyers that he would prove he is the Messiah through Vatican documents.
He was a 23-year-old militant of the notorious far-right Grey Wolves movement, on the run from Turkish justice, when he surfaced in Saint Peter's Square on May 13, 1981, and fired on the pope, seriously wounding him.
The motive for the attack, which landed Agca in an Italian prison, remains a mystery.
Extradited to Turkey in 2000 after Italy pardoned him, Agca was convicted of the murder of prominent journalist Abdi Ipekci, two armed robberies and escaping from prison, crimes all dating back to the 1970s.
His lawyers have said that Agca has received several offers from abroad and at home for books, films and documentaries.
Attempting to assasinate the pope does not make one a Catholic.
Catholic Ping
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Agca now calls himself a Catholic.
He’s more a nut than anything else.
About his supposed new found faith:
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=13368
http://www.romereports.com/palio/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=619
Was he ever actually baptized?
http://www.tldm.org/News13/MehmetAliAgcaToPrayatPopeJohnPaulIIsTomb.htm
I guess not yet. I’m not sure this clearly insane man should be baptized, but then again, a cleansing of the soul would help him in ways that no drugs or treatment would.
Chief: "That boy ain't right!"
. . . sounds like he needs to have a good long stay in a hospital for the criminally insane. He shouldn't be running around loose if he's claiming to be the messiah and has a history of attempting to assassinate the Pope. Just sayin'.
“The motive for the attack, which landed Agca in an Italian prison, remains a mystery.”
Agca was to be the Lee Harvey to Pope John Paul 2 while the Soviets had the MOST to gain especially with the Solidarity movement occurring in Poland.
I wonder what his FR name is?
Doncha know, all respected theologeans spend time in the pen for attempted murder.
GOD does not need correcting. What a fool.
Let's hope the only real conversion he's undergone is from murderer to pacifist.
He night want to try joining the United Methodists instead. They think ‘God is still speaking’, which is their way of saying the Bible is a ‘living’ document which must change with the times.
Yeah. You’re a catholic. Like Hussein is a Swede.
This guy’s allowed to walk the streets?
Let the kook correct errors in the Koran first — I’m sure his efforts would be well-received.
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