Security guards block man’s lunge at Pope

Press, 14 May 1982, Page 6

Security guards block man’s lunge at Pope

NZPA Fatima A young man dressed as a priest lunged at Pope John Paul II with a knife at the Our Lady of Fatima shrine yesterday. but security guards overpowered him before he reached the Pope, the State-run Anop news service reported.

It said the attacker shouted in Spanish: “Down with the Pope!” and “Down with Vatican 2!” — a reference to the second Vatican Council in 1962-65 that brought many Church reforms. including celebration of Mass in local languages rather than Latin.

The Pope blessed his assailant, then continued a ceremony for an estimated one million pilgrims, which was drawing to a close when the attack occurred on the eve of the first anniversary of an attempt to assassinate him at the Vatican.

Portuguese State Radio said that the police had identified the man as John Fernandez Krohn, aged 32, who was born in Madrid but now lived near Paris. It said that the man was transferred under close guard from the holy shrine at Fatima to Lisbon after three hours of interrogation. The police said that the man had told them he was a priest. The Pope has said that he wanted to thank the Virgin Mary for his life with a pilgrimage to the spot in central Portugal where three shepherd children said they saw visions of the Madonna in 1917.

The official Portuguese television network quoted police sources as saying that the assailant was dressed as a Spanish priest. Anop said that he lunged at the Pope with what it described as a bayonet.

The Most Rev. Paul Marcinkus, the burly American archbishop who acts as chief papal bodyguard on overseas tours, was seen pushing people away from the Pope and apparently summoning help from nearby police

officers, the news reports said.

The Rev. Vito Feytro Pinto, spokesman for the committee that organised the Pope’s visit to Portugal, confirmed the incident, but said that, “we aren’t absolutely certain he had a knife."

He said that the young man, who had closelycropped hair and was wearing a clerical collar and black jacket, was six metres from the Pope when he was stopped by security guards.

There was no indication that the throng of faithful, whose candles cast a soft, flickering light over the scene, knew of the attack on the steps of the Basilica at one of the biggest sanctuaries in the world. Fr Pinto said that the Pope heard a disturbance behind him when the man lunged, and started to turn back, but stopped when he was told what actually happened. The Pope blessed the assailant “several times,” and the crowd, and went inside the Basilica. Anop said that the Pope then left through the back door of the Basilica and returned to a bishop’s house where he is staying on his visit. Fr Pinto said that as he was led away, the man “accused the Pope of things over which the Pope has no responsibility. These included the problem of Poland, the problem of Solidarity (the suspended independent Polish trade movement), the problem of Communism.” Fr Pinto said that the man spoke in Spanish and appeared to be aged between 25 and 30. He said he was carrying a bag or briefcase, which was seized by police officers. A Portuguese priest who was nearby said that when security officers grabbed the assailant, his black jacket fell open to reveal an ordinary white shirt. The priest said this was "a clear sign that he was not a priest” because priests did not wear such shirts under their collars.