THE PLOT TO KILL THE POPE

Hardback. The only thing that was accidental about the attack on Pope John Paul II on 13 May 1981 was that it failed. Mehmet Ali Agca came within a centimetre and a half of killing this dynamic pontiff, the first Slav ever to be elevated to the throne of St Peter, who saw himself not only as the leader of the Church of Rome but as a force for renewal and unification of all Christendom. Mehmet Ali Agca, the 23yr old Turk who tried to kill the Pope, was neither stupid nor insane. He was not motivated by personal grudge against his target nor by religious or nationalist sentiment. He was not acting alone. He was the instrument of a plot which in all likelihood had its ultimate origins in Moscow. The drama which was played out in St Peter's Square was part of a contest for men's minds between two competing power centres: the Vatican and Kremlin. In a broader sense it was part of the continuing struggle between freedom and totalitarianism that had characterised most of the 20th century. This is a book about the plot, its context and its implications. The full story was still not known in complete detail. Contents : Section One - The Crime and its Aftermath; Section Two - The Background of Terror; Section Three - The Twisted Road to Rome. 216pp. 8vo. h/back. With Conclusion, Chronology, Notes and Index. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in sl. sunned Vg+ dw.