StPJPII - May 13, 1981

I saw Pope John Paul II in person a few times in my life.  But it was the infamous incident of 1981 that stands out in my mind.  I was a little despondent in Miami.  The increasing crime rate was getting to me.  You could see the city changing so quickly – the Cuban boat lift,  riots, civil disorder and criminal behavior were making life difficult.  So many incidents of violence witnessed by everyone.   I didn’t fully understand yet the torrents of international change  affecting our lives in Miami.  I longed for a peaceful environment and culture, my family and relatives in a small country side village near Naples.   From Naples I decided to stay in Rome a few days before the jaunt back home, and prepared for a day at St. Peter’s Square again.  It was May 13 – beautiful peaceful Italy, away from the Miami chaos.  First I put on a jogging outfit and ran from my hotel to Villa Borghese.  Being young at 37 and in good shape made the jog through the park even more of a thrill.  When I arrived at St. Peter’s Square, it was packed.  Subsequent publications to that fateful day indicated a crowd of 75,000.  I could hardly see the Pope but he did drive by slowly, rather than walk to the center of the crowd when I saw him close up  in 1980.  Noticing he bent down, I  lost sight of him.  John Paul later said he tried to get a closer look at a pilgrim girl’s picture of the Blessed Virgin, a movement that saved his life. Suddenly – pop ! pop !  All in attendance heard  and the crowd got quiet for about 2-3 seconds until we realized the reality of the sounds.  Pope John Paul had been shot!  How could this happen!?  How in Rome, our beloved Pope, our eternal city!?  I came here to escape any such street spectacles.  I was heart broken.

Immediately someone [assassin, Ali Acga] ran from the center of the crowd and they let him pass.  No one budged.  As I was in good shape and had just arrived from a jog, I knew I could catch him.  I began my chase.   My confidence grew that I could get him and pictured tackling him.  The stunned and motionless pilgrims on that fateful day, witnessed two young men running through the crowd – me and Ali Acga, assassin.  There was a crowd barricade approaching, but I knew I could hurdle it.  As I began my jump, two thoughts simultaneously and instantly entered my mind.  If I do catch him, he could shoot me too.  “Let the carabinieri [police] get him”, I said to myself.  And, if I continue running, the people and crowd and carabinieri might think me the assassin or at least an accomplice.  I stopped – I believe it sanity over cowardice.  A few hours later after all the chaos, the carabinieri reported a capture [not me] and the rest is history.  

A few years later Pope John Paul II came to Miami but I did not go to see him.  I decided no prayers of the Pope could save this city.  A torrential rain destroyed the gathering, confirming my beliefs.  

Pope John Paul II was a great Pope and a great geopolitician in his way.  He more than anyone has moved me to a deepening of my Catholic faith and understanding of changing international trends and issues – political, economic, cultural.  I learned from Pope John Paul II that no society based on left, right or centrist ideology can satisfy a people’s desire for peace and happiness without Jesus Christ.  More specifically, the purpose of Pope John Paul II’s efforts are to stem the breakdown of Christian values and beliefs from the secular propaganda of unbridled capitalism, post modernism,  liberalism, feminism and misguided socialist ideology.  I sure wish the people of the United States could see what is happening here and why.  And this incident was over 40 years ago. Can all this go on much longer?