POPE JOHN PAUL II has played a leading role in the history of the modern world. This extract from his new book offers an assessment of current affairs at the dawn of a millennium.

In writing this book, the Pope returned to the main themes of his conversations in 1993 with two Polish philosophers, Jozef Tischner and Krzysztof Michalski, founders of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. Those conversations were recorded and transcribed. They address themes crucial for the destiny of mankind.

The final conversation took place in the small dining room of the Papal Palace at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. (Our cover photograph shows the Pope sitting in the garden.) His secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, also took part.

What was the significance of the assassination attempt in 1981?

John Paul II: It was all a testimony to divine grace. Mehmet Ali Agca knew how to shoot, and he certainly shot to kill. Yet it was as if someone was guiding and deflecting that bullet.

Stanislaw Dziwisz: Agca shot to kill. That shot should have been fatal. The bullet passed through the Holy Father’s body, wounding him in the stomach, the right elbow and the left index finger. Then the bullet fell between the Pope and me. I heard two more shots, and two people standing near us were wounded. I asked the Holy Father: “Where?” He replied: “In the stomach.” “Does it hurt?” “It does.” There was no doctor within reach. There was no time to think. We immediately carried the Holy Father into an ambulance and set off at great speed towards the Gemelli hospital. The Holy Father was praying sotto voce. Then, during the journey, he lost consciousness. A number of factors would determine whether or not he survived, for example the question of time, the time it took us to reach the hospital: a few more minutes, some obstruction along the way, and it would have been too late. In all this, the hand of God is visible. Everything points towards it.

John Paul II: Yes, I remember that journey to the hospital. For a short time I remained conscious. I had a sense that I would survive. I was in pain, and this was a reason to be afraid — but I had a strange trust. I said to Father Stanislaw that I had forgiven my assailant. What happened at the hospital, I do not remember.

Stanislaw Dziwsz: Almost immediately after we arrived at the hospital, the Holy Father was taken into the operating theatre. The situation was very grave. The Holy Father had lost a great deal of blood. His blood pressure was falling dramatically, his pulse barely registered. The doctors suggested that I administer the Sacrament of the Sick. I did so at once.

John Paul II: I was already practically on the other side.

Stanislaw Dziwisz: Then he was given a blood transfusion.

John Paul II: That transfusion gave rise to further complications and delays in the whole process of recovery.

Stanislaw Dziwisz: The first blood was rejected, but there were doctors in the hospital who gave their own blood to the Holy Father. This second transfusion went well. The doctors who performed the operation did not expect the patient to survive. They paid no attention at all, understandably, to the finger which had been wounded by the bullet. “If he survives, we can do something about that later,” they said to me. As it happened, the wounded finger healed by itself, without any treatment. After the operation, the Holy Father was transferred to a recovery room. The doctors were afraid of infection, which in such a situation could have been lethal. Some of the Holy Father’s internal organs were damaged. The operation had been very difficult. As it happened, everything healed perfectly, without the slightest complication, even though such complex operations frequently do lead to problems.

John Paul II: In Rome a dying Pope, in Poland mourning . . . In Cracow the university students organised a demonstration: the “white march”.