Turkish security officials quietly removed Mehmet Ali Ağca, the man who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981, from the ancient town of Iznik on Thursday, just hours before Pope Leo XIV was scheduled to arrive for a landmark visit commemorating the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea.
Ağca, now 67, had been living in Iznik in recent years. Local media reported that he openly expressed his desire to meet the current pontiff, telling journalists, “I want to welcome the Pope.
I hope we can sit and talk for two or three minutes, either here in Iznik or in Istanbul.”
Security services, however, ensured no such encounter would take place.
According to Turkish television channel Halk TV, Ağca was escorted out of the town on Thursday afternoon to prevent any possible incident during the papal visit.
On May 13, 1981, Mehmet Ali Ağca, then a 23-year-old member of the far-right Turkish group Grey Wolves, shot and gravely wounded Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square.
The Polish pontiff survived the attack after emergency surgery and famously forgave his assailant, even visiting him in Rome’s Rebibbia prison in 1983.
During that meeting, Ağca reportedly expressed remorse, though he has given conflicting explanations of his motives over the decades.
Ağca was sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy but was extradited to Turkey in 2000 to serve a separate sentence for earlier crimes committed in his home country.
He was released from a prison in Ankara in January 2010 after nearly three decades behind bars.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope in history, arrived in Turkey earlier this week for his inaugural international trip since his election.
The highlight of the visit is today’s events in Iznik (ancient Nicaea), where bishops gathered in 325 AD under Emperor Constantine to formulate the Nicene Creed, a foundational statement of Christian belief still recited in churches worldwide.
Security around the Pope has been exceptionally tight throughout the visit, with Turkish authorities determined to avoid any controversy or disruption during the high-profile anniversary celebrations.
As Pope Leo XIV walked among elderly residents and nuns at a home run by the Little Sisters of the “Poor” in Istanbul earlier today, the brief shadow of one of the Vatican’s most infamous episodes was kept firmly at a distance.
