Pope Francis says assassination plots were foiled on Iraq visit
Two assassination attempts made against Pope Francis when he made a historic visit to northern Iraq were foiled by British spies and police inside the country.
Two assassination attempts made against Pope Francis when he made a historic visit to northern Iraq were foiled by British spies and police inside the country, the pontiff has revealed in his new autobiography.
After touching down in the country's capital Baghdad in March 2021, Francis said that police told him two known suicide bombers were planning to target one of his events in the devastated city of Mosul.
“I was warned as soon as we landed,” he wrote in ‘Spera’ — meaning ‘Hope,’ extracts of which are being published in the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera.
“The police had alerted the Vatican Gendarmerie to a report that had come from British intelligence: a woman stuffed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was on her way to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit. And a van had also left at full speed with the same intent,” he said in the book which he co-wrote with Italian author Carlo Musso.
After being told about the plots, he asked security staff for an update on the would-be assassins. “The commander replied laconically, ‘They are no longer there,’” Francis wrote. “The Iraqi police had intercepted them, and detonated them.”
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