Pope Francis Details Assassination Attempt Against Him

Pope Francis has revealed that three years ago, during his papal visit to Iraq, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. This was reported by The Guardian.

The pontiff made the revelation in his autobiography titled Spera ("Hope"), excerpts of which were published by the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

According to Pope Francis, he was urged decisively not to travel to Iraq in March 2021 due to the ongoing Covid pandemic and heightened security risks, especially in Mosul, a northern city devastated by militants from the Islamic State terrorist group. However, the leader of Catholics was determined to make the first papal visit to Iraq.

He stated that the intelligence services of Great Britain informed Iraqi police about a planned assassination attempt shortly after his arrival in Baghdad. The Iraqi police then alerted the Vatican's security services.

Pope Francis revealed that one of the suicide bombers was a woman who intended to blow herself up during the papal visit in Mosul. Additionally, the organizers had decided to use a fast-moving truck for the attack.

He later inquired with the Vatican security services about the fate of the bombers. “The commander succinctly replied, ‘They are no longer here. The Iraqi police apprehended them, after which they blew themselves up.’ This shocked me. It is yet another poisonous fruit of war,” said the Catholic leader.