The pope was gravely wounded but recovered. Days after the shooting, he publicly forgave his assailant. In 1983, Pope John Paul personally visited Agca in prison to forgive him for the attempt on his life.
After 19 years in an Italian prison (and through intervention from Pope John Paul), Agca was released in 2000 and was returned to Turkey. There, he spent another 10 years in prison for the murder of a newspaper editor in 1979. He was released from the prison in 2010.
Among other things, Mehmet Ali Agca has claimed to be an angel and a prophet. He has never said why he shot the pope, and the Vatican has refused his request to meet with Pope Francis.
On this day in 2014, Mehmet Ali Agca visited John Paul II's grave. In his first visit to the Vatican since the assassination attempt, Agca laid a bouquet of white roses at the pope's grave. Shortly after his visit, he was expelled from Italy.
- Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saginaw