:: December 2008:
The same woman who dragged the Pope to the floor on Christmas Eve this year, tried unsuccessfully to carry out the same stunt last year.
She was apprehended by security guards.
:: June 2007:
A 27-year-old German man tried to attack the Pope as he travelled around St Peter’s Square in an open topped Jeep.
The man, dressed in black shorts, trainers and pink sweatshirt had to be subdued by the Pope’s minders. The Pontiff did not react and continued waving at the crowd.
:: May 1981:
Pope John Paul II was shot four times as he blessed the crowds in St Peter’s Square while being driven in his open-topped Popemobile.
Mehmet Ali Agca, a 23-year-old Turkish national, fired the bullets 15 ft from the Pope and was jailed for life in July 1981.
John Paul II went on to make a full recovery and publicly forgave Agca, who was pardoned in 2000 and sent back to Turkey.
:: September 1978:
John Paul I died 33 days after assuming the role of Pope. The Vatican reported that the “smiling” Pope most likely died of a heart attack.
However, conspiracy theorists point to a lack of autopsy and a number of inconsistent statements about his death as proof of something more sinister.
One rumour claimed that he had died as a result of drinking “poisoned tea”.
:: November 1970:
Pope Paul VI escaped an assassination attempt in Manila, Philippines when a Bolivian artist tried to stab him at the airport.
He was protected by Paul Marcinkus, an American, who went on to become an archbishop.
Marcinkus managed to overcome Benjamin Mendoza and was nicknamed “The Gorilla” afterwards. ( telegraph.co.uk )
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