TIMES
Ruth Gledhill, London
January 25, 2005
THE Pope is to publish his "last testament", in which he will give his first account of his thoughts during the 1981 attempt on his life by a young Turkish assassin.
The rare personal revelations will guarantee the book, Memory and Identity, is an instant bestseller when it lands in bookshops around the world in March. Aimed at a global audience, rather than just the Catholic faithful, it is also certain to be hailed as the most important religious book of recent times.
Defying the old age and illness that have marked the final years of his pontificate, the 84-year-old Pope has written the 400-page tome in a question and answer format.
The personal and moving account of how he almost lost his life to Mehmet Ali Agca's bullet in St Peter's Square on May 13, 1981, is in the epilogue.
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