Poland investigates assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II

The pope was shot and seriously wounded May 13, 1981, in St. Peter's Square by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk. But it has been suggested that larger political motives may have been behind the attack, because having a pope from then-communist Poland was considered a danger by the Soviet leaders of the time. John Paul II died April 2, 2005, after almost 27 years at the Vatican.

Photo: Poland investigates assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II

Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates communist and Nazi-era crimes, opened the investigation because the late John Paul II was a Polish citizen and because communist services seem to have been involved in the shooting, the AP reports.

An Italian parliamentary commission concluded earlier this year that the Soviet Union was behind the attack, confirming a belief many have held over the past quarter century.