Man who shot Pope John Paul II to be released, wants to meet Pope Benedict

Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II four times in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981, is eligible for release next month, January 2010.Agca was originally sentenced to life in prison for the shooting, but was pardoned in June 2000 by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with the Pope's blessings. Pope John Paul II had met with Agca in prison on Dec. 27, 1983 and forgave him. Agca spent 19 years and one month in the Italian prison. At the time of his release, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told RAI television "regarding the truth of what happened May 13 1981, history can still uncover many things". Agca is currently seeking Polish citizenship, and a Rome Reports video from May 2009 states Agca "will be released next January."Pope Benedict, who was attacked by a crazed woman at Midnight Mass December 24th, , is said to be doing fine. 87 year old Roger Marie Élie Cardinal Etchegaray , however, fell down and broke his femur in the attack, which can be an injury with very serious consequences for elderly people.In March 2006, An Italian parliamentary commission officially concluded that the U.S.S.R. was behind Agca's 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II. BBC quoted from the commission's findings, which read in part "This commission believes, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the USSR took the initiative to eliminate Pope Karol Wojtyla".Before shooting the Pope in 1981, Agca had spent time in an Istanbul prison for the February 1, 1979 murder of journalist Abdi Ipekci, but had escaped from the Turkish prison after six months. Thus, he was extradicted and flown directly from Rome in 2006 to complete his prison sentence in Turkey. Controversy also surrounded the murder of Ipekci, largely because of Agca's involvement with intelligence operations tied to the U.S. CIA. Agca was "known to have been a member of the Turkish ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves organization".