Video: Footage of the Assassination Attempt on Pope Paul VI’s Life

The pontiff’s 1970 trip to the Far East almost didn’t happen at all.On this day, November 27, in 1970, an assassination attempt was made on Pope Paul VI’s life at Manila International Airport in the Philippines. He was lightly stabbed by Benjamín Mendoza y Amor Flores, a mentally ill painter who disguised himself as priest and walked up to the pontiff in a dense crowd with a crucifix and a knife. The man was subdued by the pope's personal secretary, Pasquale Macchi. This footage of the incident includes highlights of the rest of the pontiff’s trip to the Far East. Pope Paul VI reigned from from June 21, 1963, until his death in 1978. He was beatified on October 19, 2014 by Pope Francis.