Posted on 01/19/2010 5:21:07 AM PST by markomalley
It happened this morning in Turkey:
Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from a Turkish prison on Monday proclaiming that he was "the Christ eternal" after serving jail terms totaling 29 years.
Under heavy guard and with his car flanked by a huge convoy of reporters and television crews, Mr. Agca, 52, was driven to a Turkish military hospital to be assessed for military service, which is compulsory in Turkey.
Wearing a blue sweater, Mr. Agca looked tense in images taken by photographers through the darkened windows of his car.
Mr. Agca shot the pope on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter's Square, wounding him in the stomach, left hand and right arm. Two years later, the pope visited Mr. Agca in a an Italian prison and offered forgiveness.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Monday he had no comment on the freeing of Mr. Agca.
With his release from prison -- he served 10 years in Turkey after 19 years imprisonment in Italy -- Mr. Agca is reported to be considering an array of multi-million dollar offers to tell his story. But there have long been questions about his mental condition.
Gokayi Gultekin, Mr. Agca's lawyer, said in a telephone interview before his release that Mr. Agca had already been found unfit for military service because of his "severe anti-social character."
In a statement made public outside the prison at Sincan on the outskirts of Ankara on Monday, Mr. Agca declared: "I proclaim the end of the world. All the world will be destroyed in this century. Every human being will die in this century."
"I am the Christ eternal," the statement said. "The gospel is full of mistakes, I will write the perfect gospel."
I guess 29 years in prison, the last 10 of them in a Turkish prison, could tend to drive somebody "round the bend," couldn't it?
“All your base are belong to us.”
No, he’s not.
Next we hear of him, he will have been run over by a bus.
No chance of recidivism here.........
Holy Father, please help Acga realize that he is not “The Christ Eternal”. Please help him to know the true Christ, and to be healed in mind.
+ We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Amen +
Sure, Agca may very well be a nut job, but he was recruited by the KGB working through the Bulgarian Intelligence service. This skein was unravelled long ago.
The possibility exists that "the nut job" behavior is an act.
"Italian magistrates who investigated the atack on the Pope remain convinced that there was a Soviet plot, arising from Moscow’s fears that an anti-communist revolt in his native Poland would bring down the entire Soviet system. In 1986 an Italian jury acquitted six defendants — three Bulgarians and three Turks — accused of involvement in the plot for lack of evidence. Yesterday Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, who was the Vatican’s Foreign Minister at the time of the attack, said that John Paul had “become convinced that the origins of the plot lay in the Soviet bloc”. (Quoting an article from London Times)
"I am the Christ eternal," the statement said. "The gospel is full of mistakes, I will write the perfect gospel."
"That's Captain Doctor Raving-Nutter to you."
and they let this character out of jail....if he can play golf, maybe O.J would be a good partner..pathetic
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.