{"podcast":{"title":"Today In History with The Retrospectors","slug":"today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506","podcast_index_feed_id":3756506,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors","website_url":"https://www.theretrospectors.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/0863cc78-24a8-11ef-b214-97eca5428ac1/image/6963d381f67e7fa1caf5e758ac2154be.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"The Retrospectors","episode_count":1302,"summary":"Curious, funny, surprising daily history - with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll. From the invention of the Game Boy to the Mancunian beer-poisoning of 1900, from Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain to America's Nazi summer schools... each day we uncover an unexpected story for the ages. In just ten minutes! Best Daily Podcast (British Podcast Awards 2023 nominee). Get early access and ad-free listening at Patreon.com/Retrospectors or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-25T12:18:38.453166+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506"},"episode":{"title":"The Man Who Shot The Pope","slug":"the-man-who-shot-the-pope","published_at":"2026-05-13T00:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/the-man-who-shot-the-pope","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR3722962786.mp3","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR3722962786.mp3","summary":"Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter’s Square on 13th May 1981, in front of thousands of pilgrims attending his weekly general audience. Struck multiple times at close range, he collapsed in his Fiat Popemobile, as panic swept through the square. The gunman was Mehmet Ali Ağca, a 23-year-old Turkish national with a history of political violence (an accomplice was reportedly meant to have triggered an explosion to aid his escape, but this plan failed). Ağca was immediately overpowered by bystanders, including security personnel and a nun, while the Pope was rushed to hospital, where he underwent hours of emergency surgery after life-threatening internal injuries and massive blood loss. Prior to the attack, Ağca had escaped from prison in Turkey, where he had been convicted of murdering journalist Abdi İpekçi. He left behind threats explicitly targeting the Pope, yet after his arrest offered shifting and often conflicting explanations for his actions - variously blaming Western imperialism, the Soviet Union, or other global actors. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the likelihood the attack was ordered by an extremist group such as the Grey Wolves; marvel at the Pope’s response, including visiting Ağca in prison and persuading the Italian President to pardon him; and explain how the date of the attempted assasination coinciding with the earlier Our Lady of Fátima apparitions added a divine dimension to the story… Further Reading: • ‘May 13, 1981: Pope John Paul II shot in St. Peter's square’ (CBS News, 2016): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/on-this-day-may-13-1981-pope-john-paul-ii-shot-in-st-peters-square/ • ‘Mehmet Ali Ağca, The Man Who Tried To Kill Pope John Paul II’ (All That’s Interesting, 2026): https://allthatsinteresting.com/mehmet-ali-agca • ‘On…","meta_description":"Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter’s Square on 13th May 1981, in front of thousands of pilgrims attending his weekly general audience. Struck multipl…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":830,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/episodes/the-man-who-shot-the-pope/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/the-man-who-shot-the-pope.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}