Security forces foiled two assassination attempts against Pope Francis during his March 2021 visit to Iraq — including one by a suicide bomber, the pontiff shared in his new memoir.
The Pope wrote that British security forces had warned him about a young woman who was visiting Mosul in the north of the country and was planning to blow herself up during his historic visit to the Middle Eastern country.
He said he was also informed about a van that “had sped off with the same intention.”
“When I asked the (Vatican) gendarmerie the next day what was known about the two attackers, the commander replied tersely, ‘They are no longer there,'” the Pope’s new autobiography published by the Italian newspaper Corriere Della. Sarah partially reads an excerpt from “Hope”.
Francis, 88, said the would-be assassins were “stopped” by Iraqi police, who later safely detonated the explosives.
He called the entire horrific affair “the poisonous fruit of war.”
His visit is the first time a Pope has visited the war-torn country and comes at a time when security alerts and the risk of the disease have increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pope John Paul II was scheduled to visit Iraq in 1999 as part of a tour of major holy sites in the region, but a diplomatic dispute between Iraq and the Holy See ended the plans.
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