Mehmet Ali Agca shoots the pope in St. Peter's Square on 13 May 1981. John Paul II survives, later visits Agca in prison, and the gunman's motives remain disputed.
Contested history
Consensus: Mehmet Ali Agca shot John Paul II on 13 May 1981 and was convicted; who, if anyone, stood behind him has never been established.
Agca fired the shotsEstablished
He was seized at the scene, confessed, and was sentenced to life in Italy.
Bulgarian intelligence, acting for the Soviet bloc, organized the attemptDebated
Agca named Bulgarian accomplices, but an Italian court acquitted them in 1986 for lack of evidence; a 2006 parliamentary commission backed the theory, and critics called it politically driven.
Agca acted alone or for Turkish ultranationalist motivesDebated
He had ties to the Grey Wolves and had threatened the pope in 1979, but his shifting testimony makes his account unreliable.