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March 29, 2010

JPII shooter: Benedict should resign over abuse

In his first public comments since his release from prison, the man who shot Pope John Paul II says Pope Benedict XVI should resign over the Catholic Church's handling of clerical sex abuse cases, the Associated Press reports.

Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who was released in January nearly 29 years after wounding Pope John Paul II in Rome, has declared himself a messenger from God.

Agca told journalists in Istanbul on Monday that "I want the pope to resign not arrested," as he waved a Turkish newspaper reporting calls for the arrest of the pope. The press conference marked his first public comments since his release.

There are questions about Agca's mental health, the AP reports. Motives for the shooting of Pope John Paul remain a mystery.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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If the Pope were to resign it is unlikely that the College of Cardinals would choose a successor that would deal harshly with the offenders.

Posted by: Dana LaRocca | March 29, 2010 3:48 PM

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About Matthew Hay Brown

Matthew Hay Brown writes and blogs about faith and values in public and private life for The Baltimore Sun. A former Washington correspondent for the newspaper, he has long written about the intersection of religion and politics. He has reported from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, traveling most recently to Syria and Jordan to write about the Iraqi refugee crisis.

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