Pope Francis revealed that he was the target of an attempted suicide bombing during his visit to Iraq 3 years ago, and it was the first by a Catholic pope to the country, and perhaps his most dangerous foreign trip during his 11-year papacy, according to”Agence France-Presse”.
In a part of his forthcoming autobiography published on Tuesday, Pope Francis said that the police informed him after his plane landed in Baghdad in March 2021 that at least two known suicide bombers were targeting one of the events he was supposed to attend.
According to an excerpt from the book published by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the pope wrote: “There was a woman loaded with explosives, a young suicide bomber, heading to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit, and a pickup truck drove off at top speed for the same purpose.
Pope Francis ‘ visit to Mosul was an important stop during his trip to Iraq, given that the second largest city in Iraq was under the control of the “Daesh” organization from 2014 to 2017, and the pope visited the ruins of 4 destroyed churches there, and launched an appeal for peace.
During the visit, the Vatican gave few details about the security preparations for the pope. The attendance of many events during his visit, which took place at a time when the “covid – 19” pandemic began to recede, was available only to a limited number of people.
Iraq has deployed thousands of additional security personnel to protect the pope.
The Vatican has not yet responded to a request for additional details about the pope’s new statements.
The new biography of Pope Francis, entitled “hope”, is scheduled to be published on January 14, and the Pope published his memoirs last March.
In the excerpt published on Tuesday, the pope said that British intelligence had informed the Vatican of the assassination attempt.
The pope said he asked a security official the next day what had happened to the would-be suicide bombers. He wrote: “the commander replied laconically: they no longer exist . The Iraqi police intercepted them and blew them up”.
