13 June

Pope's would-be killer pardoned

Turkish gunman 'freed' but immediately detained

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Italy’s president, signed the order granting an official pardon to Pope John Paul II’s would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, on this day in 2000.  The Turkish gunman had spent 19 years in jail after wounding the pontiff in St Peter’s Square in Rome in May 1981 but John Paul II, who had forgiven Agca from his hospital bed and visited him in prison in 1983, had been pressing the Italian government to show clemency and allow him to return to Turkey.  However, at the same time as granting him his freedom under the Italian judicial system, Ciampi also signed Agca’s extradition papers at the request of the Turkish authorities, who required him to serve the outstanding nine years of a 10-year jail sentence after being convicted in his absence of the murder of a Turkish journalist in 1978.  He was handed over to Turkish police, who escorted him onto a military flight. Read more…

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Giovanni Antonio Magini - astronomer and cartographer

Scientist laboured to produce a comprehensive atlas of Italy

Giovanni Antonio Magini, who dedicated his life to producing a detailed atlas of Italy, was born on this day in 1555 in Padua.  He also devised his own planetary theory consisting of 11 rotating spheres and invented calculating devices to help him work on the geometry of the sphere.  Magini was born in Padua and went to study philosophy in Bologna, receiving his doctorate in 1579. He then dedicated himself to astronomy and in 1582 wrote his Ephemerides coelestium motuum, a major treatise on the subject, which was translated into Italian the following year.  In 1588 Magini was appointed chair of mathematics at Bologna University, for which he was chosen over Galileo. His greatest achievement was the preparation of Italia, or the Atlante geografico d’Italia - the Geographical Atlas of Italy - which was printed posthumously by Magini’s son in 1620.  Read more…

Saint Anthony of Padua

Pilgrims honour the saint famous for his miracles

The feast of Saint Anthony of Padua (Sant’Antonio da Padova) is celebrated today, with thousands of people visiting the northern Italian city. Special services are held in the Basilica di Sant’Antonio before a statue of the saint is carried through the streets of Padua.  Pilgrims from all over the world visit the Basilica, to see the saint’s tomb and relics.  Anthony was born in Portugal where he became a Catholic priest and a friar of the Franciscan order. He died on 13 June, 1231 in Padova and was declared a saint by the Vatican a year after his death, which is considered a remarkably short space of time.  Anthony is one of the most loved of all the saints and his name is regularly invoked by Italians to help them recover lost items.  It is estimated that about five million pilgrims visit the Basilica every year in order to file past and touch the tomb of the Franciscan monk. Read more…

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Book of the Day: Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, by Jonathan Kwitny

Pope John Paul II was born in a small village in southern Poland and originally wanted to write plays. In World War II he repeatedly escaped German round-ups of young men, and managed to continue writing and acting in theatre. He rose to an influential position in the Church during the Cold War and became one of those most responsible for the overthrow of communist tyranny in his country, yet at the same time he colluded in protecting despotism in Latin America. This paradox is among the aspects of John Paul's life and character explored in this biography. Written by an investigative journalist, Man of the Century is more focused on politics, diplomacy, and the Pope’s role in the fall of Communism, rather than his theology.

Jonathan Kwitny was an American investigative journalist who wrote for the Wall Street Journal and presented The Kwitny Report for a New York radio station.

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