{"id":2527,"date":"2008-07-03T08:36:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-03T08:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/07\/the-popes-gangster.html"},"modified":"2008-07-03T08:36:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-03T08:36:00","slug":"the-popes-gangster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/07\/the-popes-gangster.html","title":{"rendered":"The pope’s gangster"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Well, actually, he’s just going to be meeting<\/i> the Pope during World Youth Day festivities — but his story<\/a> is a compelling one of crime and conversion: <\/p>\n

A FORMER hitman will share the stage with Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth Day in Sydney – but there is no need to be alarmed. <\/p>\n

John Pridmore, 44, who spent almost 20 years as a gangster in London’s underworld, has turned his life around and found God. <\/p>\n

The author of A Gangster’s Guide to God<\/i> will speak about his conversion experience at a Saturday evening vigil attended by the Pope at Randwick Racecourse on July 19 and a concert the night before. <\/p>\n

Pridmore, who is an imposing 195cm tall, was an enforcer in London’s East and West End and led a life involving stabbings, guns, vicious criminal gangs and major drug deals. <\/p>\n

He said his life of crime started after his parents divorced when he was 10. <\/p>\n

“I felt like the ones who loved me most had hurt me the most,” he said. “So I made an unconcious decision not to love any more. My only qualification in life was stealing, so that’s what I did. By 15 I was in a detention centre. At 19 I was in prison again, and because the way I dealt with my pain was with anger, I was always fighting. They put me on 23-hour solitary confinement and I came out of there even more angry and bitter. I started bouncing round the east end and west end of London. I liked fighting so I thought I might as well get paid for it. I met some guys who seemed to have everything and I started to work for them. <\/p>\n

Before long I found myself working with them instead of for them. These were the guys who ran most of the organised crime in London. To my shame I was involved in massive drug deals, protection rackets and vicious crime of all sorts,” he said. <\/p>\n

Pridmore was also heavily into drugs, taking crack, cocaine and other illegal substances on a daily basis. <\/p>\n

“I had what I thought was everything. Money, power, girls, drugs, the lot. But yet there was something missing,” he said. <\/p>\n

The turning point for Pridmore was one time when he thought he had killed a man. He awoke from a dream soon afterwards and realised he had to change his life. “I looked at myself and thought what have I become.” <\/p>\n

He decided to attend a Catholic retreat and while there found a new purpose in life. <\/p>\n

For the first time he confessed his sins to a priest and received Holy Communion. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, actually, he’s just going to be meeting the Pope during World Youth Day festivities — but his story is a compelling one of crime and conversion: A FORMER hitman will share the stage with Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth Day in Sydney – but there is no need to be alarmed. John Pridmore,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-pope-and-bishops"],"yoast_head":"\nThe pope's gangster - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/07\/the-popes-gangster.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The pope's gangster - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Well, actually, he’s just going to be meeting the Pope during World Youth Day festivities — but his story is a compelling one of crime and conversion: A FORMER hitman will share the stage with Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth Day in Sydney – but there is no need to be alarmed. 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