Dubuque Priest Remembers Darker Moment; Loras Professor Recalls the Confusion After 1981 Shooting

Summary

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The Rev. Douglas Wathier remembers vividly the day in 1981 when an assassin tried to kill Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.

The young seminarian and a fellow student from the Pontifical North American College in Rome were toward the back of a huge crowd attending one of the pope's regular public audiences.

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Extract

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Dubuque Priest Remembers Darker Moment; Loras Professor Recalls the Confusion After 1981 Shooting

"It was a beautiful spring day and the atmosphere was festive. The pope was so vital then and there was little security so he would spend 20 or 30 minutes walking around the edges of the crowds to greet people," said Wathier, associate professor of religious studie...

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