John Paul Wounded in '82 Stabbing by Priest

Testimony reveals pope sustained injuries, covered up by Rome, in attack at Fatima
By Ambreen Ali,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 15, 2008 5:23 PM CDT
John Paul Wounded in '82 Stabbing by Priest
Pope John Paul II is shown with the Bidens around 1980.   (AP Photo)

Pope John Paul II was injured in a 1982 stabbing by a crazed priest, but the wound was kept secret until now, Reuters reports. The late pontiff was visiting a shrine in Portugal to give thanks for surviving an earlier assassination attempt when an ultra-conservative Spanish priest lunged at him with a dagger and drew blood. The attack is revealed in a documentary film debuting at the Vatican tomorrow.

“I can now reveal that the Holy Father was wounded,” his closest aide says in Testimony. The documentary also shows footage of the pope’s final public appearance, days before he died at age 84 in 2005 after being debilitated by Parkinson's. On that day, he whispered to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz that he would soon die. "If I can't speak any more, it's time for me to go." (More Pope John Paul II stories.)

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