Cardinal Dziwisz on the assassination attempt against John Paul II: the Pope was inconvenient, he demanded respect for human rights

fot. This Day In History/YouTube

“The assassination attempt against John Paul II was the consequence of his steadfast demand for the respect of human rights, especially in the context of enslavement by totalitarianism. At that time, such a Pope was inconvenient for many,” stresses Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz in an interview for the portal polskifr.fr on the 40^th anniversary of the aggression.

Cardinal Dziwisz points out that St. John Paul II firmly spoke out, from the beginning of his pontificate, in defense of persecuted and oppressed people and of societies enslaved by totalitarianism.

He himself came from Poland, a country that experienced the atrocities of Nazism and communism in the 20th century. He understood perfectly well the harm caused by the totalitarian violence used by authorities against individual citizens and whole societies. This is why he was steadfast in demanding that the rights and dignity of every human being be respected. He paid a high price for it, but the assassination attempt did not interrupt his mission, said the longtime secretary of St. John Paul II.

He added that the moments after the assassination attempt were very dramatic because the Pope was in serious danger of losing his life because of the wounds. “Holding the slumping and heavily bleeding Holy Father, I was in shock; but I knew we had to act to save his life. St. John Paul II, despite the pain, remained calm, entrusted himself to God and Mary, and already on the way to the hospital, losing consciousness, said to me that he forgives the assassin,” Cardinal Dziwisz recalls.

He also emphasizes that, after his convalescence, St. John Paul, despite the safeguards introduced, did not avoid meetings with people and foreign pilgrimages, and continued preaching his message with courage. “He repeatedly said that his life was saved thanks to Mary. He visited the assassin in prison and spoke with him for a while. The Pope’s enemies did not succeed in stopping him with violence; he had a mission entrusted by God, which he continued to the end,” Cardinal Dziwisz noted.