Warning to guards last week

Press, 15 May 1981, Page 1

Warning to guards last week

NZPA-Reuter Rome Only a week ago Pope John Paul celebrated a special Mass for newSwiss Guards, felling them they might have to give their lives to save him and expressing the hope that “violence and fanaticism” would remain outside the walls of the Vatican. . After making the comment on fanaticism, he added: “But the readiness to give life, if that would be necessary, can become a reality also in your service and more precisely in the sense (that you should) be ready to give one part of

your life, something of your usual comfort, part of your time, of your income, and of your demands. “Whoever loses his life for my own sake,” he added quoting words from Saint Matthew; “Will find it again.. The Lord himself has promised it,”-he said. No Swiss Guard was injured during the attempt on the Pope’s life, but they were among the first to rush toward the jeep after he was shot, A long article in a Colombian magazine available on the streets yesterday morning, predicted that Pope John Paul would be the victim of an assassiria-

tlon attempt, according to a report from Bogota. The magazine “Cromos” quoted Marcellus ToeGucor, whom it described as a “world-renowned specialist” in the occult, as saying that an analysis of the palm of the Pope showed that “a violent act would be' committed against his life.” Under the headline, “Written in His Palm: The Pope Could Be Killed,” the article warned the Pope and his bodyguards to be careful in big crowds because a religious fanatic or someone from a political movement could attack him. ■ ' .