Pope John Paul ‘Stabbed by Priest’
Dear friends around the world,
I have recently come across this on the internet and thought that this may interest some of you. I was quite shocked by the article.
The passing of Pope John Paul has saddened a lot of people. I wish him and his fellow followers peace.
Tsem Rinpoche
The late Pope John Paul was wounded by a knife-wielding priest in 1982, a year after he was shot in St Peter’s Square, but the injury was kept secret, his former top aide says in a documentary film.
An ultra-conservative Spanish priest lunged at the late pope with a dagger on May 12, 1982
Pope John Paul ‘Stabbed by Priest’
3:34PM BST | 15 Oct 2008
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz also discloses that when John Paul II was unable to pronounce words several days before his death in 2005, he told his aides that if he could not speak any more the time had come for him to die.
Dziwisz, who is now cardinal of Krakow, Poland, was John Paul’s private secretary and closest aide for nearly 40 years, including all of his 27 years as pontiff.
The documentary, called Testimony and narrated by the British actor Michael York, is a film version of a memoir published by Dziwisz last year but with some additions.
It will make its official premiere at the Vatican on Thursday night in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI.
On May 12, 1982, the pope was visiting the shrine city of Fatima in Portugal to give thanks for surviving a first assassination attempt a year earlier on May 13, 1981, when he was shot in St Peter’s Square by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca.
A crazed ultra-conservative Spanish priest, Juan Fernandez Krohn, lunged at the pope with a dagger and was knocked to the ground by police and arrested. The fact that the knife actually reached the pope and cut him was not known until now.
“I can now reveal that the Holy Father was wounded. When we got back to the room (in the Fatima sanctuary complex) there was blood,” Dziwisz says in the documentary.
The pope carried on with the trip without disclosing his wound. Krohn was arrested and served several years in a Portuguese prison before being expelled from the country.
The documentary combines on-camera narration by York, interviews with Dziwisz, historical footage and re-enacted segments of the pope’s life played out by actors.
It includes video of his last public appearance from his window overlooking St Peter’s Square, when, debilitated by Parkinson’s disease and other maladies and overcome with emotion, he did not manage to pronounce any words.
Dziwisz says that when the pope, who had undergone a tracheotomy to help him breathe, was wheeled back into his apartments, he regained some strength and managed to whisper: “If I can’t speak any more, it’s time for me to go”.
He died several days later on April 2, 2005, aged 84.
The documentary was shot in Rome, the Vatican and the cities in Poland where the John Paul was born and worked as a priest, bishop and cardinal before his election to the papacy in 1978.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/3203594/Pope-John-Paul-stabbed-by-priest.html
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Can’t imagine that a priest actually stabbed Pope John Paul. How can he do this when he as a priest is suppose to be compassion and love everyone but kill the religion leader. he should remember that he carries the name priest and hence must show good example and behaviour to others but instead took another person’s life.
I respected Pope John who continued his trip even though he was injured. That shows the determination he had to teach so it can benefit others. Always put others first more than our own needs.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article.
I think the morale of the story is that there are people who like you, there will be be people who hate you for whatever the reason is, especially if the person is a public “celebrity”. People like Pope or HH Dalai Lama are important figures and what they do affects the live of millions, therefore they should always encourage people to be kind to others.
With obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and the Church, in spite of great difficulties, I accept. ~ John Paul I on his inauguration speech to accept the post of being a Pope. one of the youngest popes ever to hold that position. He broke tradition by addressing the crowd that had gathered to see the new Pope of the Catholic tradition .
The strength of a person’s spiritual attainment is revealed when the person put the importance of self at the lowest while taking care of everyone else, including people who he/she never met or known before. Base on this, the action of Pope John Paul demonstrated to us what selflessness truly mean. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this news with us.
It is amazing how Pope John Paul continued with his public speech to teach the crowd even though he was wounded. This reminds me strongly about Rinpoche.
Rinpoche in faced in situations like that, he too will care more for the crowd that have came to him pushing even though he may not feel well and not show us. Allowing the teachingto continue because the people that came are more important to Rinpoche. For Rinpoche, it is the care that he has for all of us to bring the dharma to us that makes him put his suffering aside to benefit us.
It made me realise that realised masters or spiritual heads would all have more care and concern for the rest of the people to bring spirituality in their lives to benefit them. It shows that they are here with us only to benefit us even if they suffer.
Through the story it inspires me to be more like these masters to put our personal feelings aside and to benefit others instead of just themselves.
It is amazing how Pope John Paul continued to serve others like nothing happened despite his physical wound and security threat to his life and safety. This is a basic sign of a highly attained being who is able to serve all others first despite worldly concerns that may arise.
This reminds me of a teaching Rinpoche gave about highly attained beings such as Trijang Rinpoche and the Dalai Lama who return in a tangible and worldly form (nirmanakaya) to turn the Wheel of Dharma. Although they have a body like us and this body goes through mundane processes like hunger, fatigue, illness, ageing etc., their minds are not effected. For example, when unattained beings are hungry, we can loose our temper and not be able to function well until we fill our stomachs. On the contrary, a starving attained being is able to happily and graciously give away his food to another being who is hungry.
In other words, the minds of attained beings are not disturbed or shaken as worldly phenomena happen upon their worldly form.
Hence, sometimes, when we see attained beings engage in actions that we judge as common, normal or worldly, they may be doing so for the benefit of our minds. How do we know this? We will know that their “worldly” actions have virtuous and enlightened motivation because, ultimately and eventually, we will see that results to support this. That is people are in a better place, there is harmony, there is spiritual growth, there is peace, sentient beings are being benefitted.
I appreciate beings like Pope John Paul, the Dalai Lama, Trijang Rinpoche, Rinpoche and many more who are heroes amongst men who stand against the flow to benefit sentient beings.
Dear Rinpoche,
This is an example of not all spiritual people are kind, compassionate and good people. There are people who said to be “spiritual” but in fact they are not practising at all. They talk bad thing at people and they harm other people who are not the same with them.
I can see similar people in the infamous Dorje Shugden bad as well. Those who are no Dorje Shugden practitioners hurl bad words, vulgarities and mean comments to kind Dorje Shugden practitioners. All because they do not accept their choice of belief and YET they call themselves BUDDHIST and Dalai Lama’s followers. True Buddhist are kind and peaceful. They respect people from other belief system and they certainly DO NOT harm another being in any form of way.
The ban had done more harm than good and it is obvious. Please Your Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lift Shugden Ban.
Humbly,
Chris
This is truly horrifying to read about, even a priest could do something like this. I believe that this was a tragic incident, thousands and thousands of Pope John’s followers have kind of lost their figure head although it can be very easily replaced by another pope. I hope that the followers of Pope John abide in peace and may they continue their practice to benefit others.
Thank you Rincpoche,
Even the great trees in the forest, that give lives and benefit many, have enemies.