Posted on 04/30/2009 5:54:45 PM PDT by markomalley
In a letter written from a Turkish prison, Mehmet Ali Agca, author of the failed attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, claims to have renounced Islam and embraced the Catholic faith.
Italian weekly Diva e people donna published the letter, French journal 7s7 reports.
"I am looking for an Italian woman, who wants to correspond with me. Obviously (I hope) she is Catholic because from May 13 2007, I decided to renounce the Muslim faith and becoming a member of the Roman Catholic Church," Agca writes.
"I have decided to return peacefully to the (St Peter's) square and to testify to the world of my conversion to Catholicism," he says in the letter written in Italian.
"Just for a day, I would wish to return to Rome to pray at the tomb of John Paul II to express my filial appreciation for his forgiveness," he adds.
Questioned by AFP in Turkey, his former lawyer Mustafa Demirbag, said he was "very skeptical" about the conversion, given the steps required to receive baptism.
Ali Agca also claimed to have expressed his desire to visit St Peter's Square to Pope Benedict XVI, without having received "no response to date". He also claimed to have informed the Vatican of his conversion.
"For the Vatican, I may still be the man who tried to assassinate the Polish Pope, but now I have changed, I am a different man," he says.
I hope it’s real.
btw, h/t to Fr Z
I’m sure it’s real. 16 years. John Paul II over the long haul.
On Dec. 17, 1983, Pope John Paul II visited his would be assassin Agca. The Pope wrote that he talked with Agca and told Agca he forgave him.
Afterwards Pope John Paul met with Agca's family and maintained a correspondence with him while Agca was in prison.
Maybe the kindness shown to Agca by Pope John Paul had something to do with his conversion?
Wow...I hope this is for real. Remember when the Pope went to speak with him in prison and forgave him...maybe it had a lasting effect.
In other words, it looks like the Old Assassins. I wonder if this guy even really knew what he was doing.
Do people fake converting to Catholicism? Esp. on penalty of instant death, esp. having announced it to the world?
There might be a danger he's faked himself out, but so do lots of people at first. That's what trial by fire is for.
I pray this is true but feel he is a very confused little man. Either way he will be killed by the muzzies. Although dying for Christ is no small thing.
Mehmet Ali Agca, author of the failed attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, claims to have renounced Islam and embraced the Catholic faith.The Turkish gov't will probably be petitioned by various Muzzie groups calling for Agca's execution.
Funny thing. In 2004, Turkey added the following into its constitution: Neither death penalty nor general confiscation shall be imposed as punishment. It did so in order to make itself compliant with EU standards (back when Chirac of France said that he'd support Turkish entry into the EU LOLOL)
So the government can't do that.
But that says nothing for Agca's roommate Attila.
Maybe the kindness shown to Agca by Pope John Paul had something to do with his conversion?
- - - - - - - - - -
I am sure it did. Most non-Christians who convert do so because of the kindness and love that Christians show to them.
I pray this is a real conversion. If it is, he can be a powerful witness, even in prison.
For persecuted Christians throughout the world.
www.persecution.org
How long's he in for, yet?
Praying this is true.
Now he’s a Catholic they can make him the head of Notre Dame. I figure as a convert he understands the faith better than the cradle Catholic running the place.
Definitely more ethically qualified
God knows the heart, and in the end that’s all that will count anyway.
Maybe this man could become a latter day St. Paul. An evangelist to the Muslims who first persecuted the Church before converting. The whole concept of turning the other cheek and Christian forgiveness is something which is quite foreign to the Muslims. Agca must have been utterly perplexed by JPII's gesture. The Muslim approach of "smite them" would have led him to expect some sort of revenge.
Agca's conversion, if genuine, had it's seeds in JPII's bloody suffering. Am I reading too much into this to think that there is a message here for the Church? Specifically, that the conversion of Muslims will be preceded by the brutal shedding of Christian blood?
That won’t keep the petitions from flyin’ though. And since Turkey’s EU membership is no longer anything but a fading dream, it won’t be surprising if the Islamacists running Turkish gov’t figure out a way to make it happen. And, as you said, he’s in prison with a bunch of Moslems.
ping
WHOA! Now that is amazing! Just like the apostle paul!
PING!
Truly a remarkable story.
I know it's a joke, but there's a great deal of truth in that statement.
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