Pope reveals he escaped two attempted attacks during his 2021 Iraq trip

These two assassination plans were prevented by the Iraqi police, says the sovereign pontiff in an autobiography to be published in mid-January.

Pope Francis revealed that he escaped two attempted attacks during his historic trip to Iraq in March 2021, according to extracts from his forthcoming autobiography published Tuesday, December 17 by the Italian press. “The police had alerted the Vatican gendarmerie to information received from the British secret services: a woman full of explosives, a young suicide bomber, was heading towards Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit”writes the sovereign pontiff in this autobiography, entitled Hopeto be released in mid-January in more than 80 countries.

“And a van was also driven at full speed with the same intention”he adds, according to extracts from the book published by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. The suicide bomber and the driver of the van were intercepted and killed by Iraqi police.“Almost everyone advised me against this trip, the first by a pontiff to the hinge of the Middle East devastated by extremist violence and jihadist desecration”writes François, who celebrated his 88th birthday on Tuesday. “But I wanted to get to the bottom of it. I felt like I had to.” During his trips abroad, the Pope’s security is ensured by the Pontifical Swiss Guard and the Vatican Gendarmerie, in collaboration with local law enforcement.