Pope Shooter Wants to Convert

The gunman who shot Pope John Paul II says he would like to convert to Christianity at a baptism ceremony at the Vatican after his release from prison in January.

In comments relayed by his lawyer on Wednesday, Mehmet Ali Agca also says he wants to visit the grave of Pope John Paul II, meet with Pope Benedict XVI and produce a television documentary on the Vatican.

Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, wants to convert to Christianity, according to his lawyer. Agca, seen in 2000, served 19 years in an Italian prison for the attack on the pontiff. He's currently in prison in Turkey for killing a journalist, a slaying that came before the attack on the pope. He is due to be released at the start of next year.

Agca shot and seriously wounded John Paul on May 13, 1981. The late pope met with Agca in an Italian prison in 1983 and forgave him for the shooting. Agca served 19 years in an Italian prison for the attack and is currently serving a prison term in Turkey for killing journalist Abdi Ipekci. (Chick would point out, the gunman want's to convert to Catholicism, not Christianity, haw-haw!)