40 YEARS AGO TODAY: Pope John Paul II nearly killed in assassination attempt
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May 13, 202140 YEARS AGO TODAY: May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was nearly killed in St. Peter's Square during an assassination attempt. A few days later during the Regina Coeli, Pope John Paul II forgave his would-be assassin, with his voice broadcast via radio to the faithful in the Square.
While recovering at the hospital, Pope John Paul II realized that the date of the attack was not accidental. It was May 13 - the same date when the Virgin Mary appeared to three children in Fatima in 1917.
A year later, John Paul II traveled to Fatima to thank the Virgin Mary for saving his life. He placed a bullet meant to kill him in the crown of Mother of God, marking a new beginning of one of the most powerful Marian devotions in the world.
