Juan María Fernández y Krohn
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Juan María Fernández y Krohn (born in Spain in 1950) is a former Roman Catholic priest, who tried to assassinate John Paul II. Ordained a diocesan priest in 1978, he was made a member of the Society of Saint Pius X in 1979 but was expelled from the group the following year because he openly proclaimed that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's opposition to Pope John Paul II was too weak.
On May 12, 1982 he tried to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet in Fatima, Portugal; during his trial, he claimed that he was opposed to the reforms of Vatican II and that he believed Pope John Paul II had been in league with the Soviet Union and even a Communist agent. He received a six-year sentence though he served only three years and then was expelled from Portugal after which moved to Belgium. By then, he had already given up the Roman Catholic priesthood. In Belgium he became a well-known lawyer but became known for his violent acts in the court rooms.
In 1996, in Spain he was charged with setting fire to a local centre of the Herri Batasuna Party of Basque separatists.
He was arrested again in July 2000 after climbing over a security barricade at the Royal Palace of Brussels, intent on killing either Belgian King Albert II or the approaching Spanish King Juan Carlos. He received a five-year sentence.
During his trials, it was claimed that Fernández y Krohn might suffer from mental illness as his outbreaks of extreme violence would seem to indicate.
[edit] Link
- [1] Article in Dutch on the attack on King Albert II (or King Juan Carlos), including a picture of Fernández y Krohn being taken away by policemen
