CT News
May 14, 2026 : May 13 marks the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and 45 years since the assassination attempt on Pope Saint John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.
Before the beginning of the General Audience on May 13, as Pope Leo XIV passed through the crowds in the popemobile, he stopped and knelt at the spot where, exactly on this day in 1981, his predecessor St. John Paul II was the victim of an assassination attempt.
The spot is marked by a white marble plaque embedded with St. John Paul II's coat of arms, placed among the cobblestones. After the assassination attempt, St. John Paul II repeatedly expressed his conviction that his life had been preserved through the Virgin Mary’s intercession.
The attack on John Paul II coincided with the anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal.
In 1982, St. John Paul II celebrated Mass in Fátima and consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On May 13, 2000, he beatified the shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta at the Portuguese shrine.
Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, the late pope's former personal secretary, recounted the harrowing moments of the attack and John Paul II's unwavering belief that it was the Virgin Mary who saved his life.
Forty-five years later, the memory of that day remains deeply etched in the hearts of the faithful worldwide.
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