This May will mark the 25 th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. It took place on May 13, 1981 in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Only a few weeks earlier, on March 30, Ronald Reagan had survived an attempted assassination in Washington. There are some remarkable similarities between the two crimes. Their would-be assassins both appeared to be lone gunmen acting on personal motives. They were within six or seven yards of their victims when they opened fire. The bullets entered both bodies, moved toward the hearts, and either stopped or passed within a few...