Dorota Abdelmoula-Viet – Vatican City
Immediately after the assassination attempt on May 13, 1981, he supported the wounded Pope in the Popemobile on the way to the infirmary, and from the beginning of St. John Paul II’s pontificate, he was among his closest and most trusted collaborators.
Angelo Gugel, originally from Miane in northern Italy, worked in the Vatican for 50 years. He first served in the Vatican Gendarmerie, then in the Governorate of Vatican City State, and from 1978, he served as the papal valet – first for John Paul II, then St. John Paul II, and subsequently Benedict XVI, whom he accompanied during the first months of his pontificate.
Witness to the assassination attempt on John Paul II
Remembered as an exemplary and extremely discreet papal collaborator, Gugel only in 2018 shared his first memories and testimonies from his time working in the Vatican. The media mainly remembered him from photos taken on the day of the assassination attempt on the Polish Pope on May 13, 1981, as he was one of the people who accompanied him in the Popemobile, supporting him after Ali Agca’s attack, as the papal car sped to the Vatican infirmary.
Trusted collaborator from the first days of the pontificate
In his memoirs, Gugel shared testimonies of trust from St. John Paul II. It was he whom the Pope asked for help in practicing his Italian pronunciation before delivering the homily for the inauguration of his pontificate. He witnessed many events that took place without media presence – he recalled, among other things, private trips to the mountains, and prayers with exorcism performed by the Holy Father. He also shared a testimony of a miracle which – as he believed – was prayed for by John Paul II, and which was the happy birth of Gugel’s daughter in 1980, despite the threat to the lives of the girl and her mother.
Even in retirement, Angelo Gugel remained faithful to papal service. Although he was over 70, he was called to accompany Benedict XVI during his summer vacation in Castel Gandolfo in 2010.
