ROME (CWNews.com)

    Mehmet Ali Agca, who was serving a life sentence for his attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, has received clemency from the Italian government.

    Agca will be extradited to his native Turkey, where he still faces an 8-year prison sentence for the 1978 killing of a Turkish journalist. Authorities in Turkey have indicated that Agca will be required to serve out that sentence.

    The Vatican had no immediate comment on the decision by Italian President Carlo Ciampi to grant Agca's request for clemency. In recent months the Vatican has consistently taken the position that Agca's status should be resolved by Italian secular authorities, and that the Holy See does not wish to influence their judgments.

    Speaking off the record, however, Italian officials said that they had informally consulted with the Vatican before granting Agca's clemency request, and received indications that the Pope had no objection to the move. Pope John Paul II has encouraged government officials to grant clemency to prisoners during the Jubilee year.

    The Pope himself said that he had forgiven Agca for the shooting within hours after it occurred, on May 13, 1981.

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