The Day Pope John Paul II Was Shot

Private Tours of the Vatican Museums

Plaque marking the spot where Pope John Paul II was shot

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​Embedded in the shiny, black cobble-stones of Piazza San Pietro is a white marble plaque engraved with nothing more than a papal coat of arms and a date (May 13th, 1981) in Roman numerals. 

​The image of the cross and the prominent letter 'M' indicates that the coat of arms belonged to Pope John Paul II (r. 1978-2005), while the date marks the day the world was rocked by an attempt to assassinate him. The would-be assassins were Mehmet Ali Agca (b.1958) and Oral Çelik, who both hailed from Turkey.

In 1981 May 13th was a Wednesday, the day the pope holds his weekly audience in Piazza San Pietro. The two Turks whiled away the time writing postcards and awaited the arrival of the pope. When John Paul II finally appeared in his famous pope-mobile Agca stepped forward and shot him four times before being dragged to the ground by a security guard. The pope was critically, but not fatally, injured. 

The plaque marks the spot, on the north side of the piazza, where the shooting took place. Pope John Paul II fervently believed that his life had been saved through the intervention of the Virgin Mary, to whom he was particularly devoted. And so, in thanks, he had a mosaic of the Madonna and Child placed in an aedicule, overlooking the side of the square in which he was shot. ​The image is entitled MATER ECCLESIAE (Mother of the church). 

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Plaque marking spot where Pope John Paul ll was shot

Mosaic of the Virgin and Child