Pope Francis reveals in his new book 'Hope' that he narrowly escaped a double suicide bombing during his historic visit to Iraq in 2021. British intelligence and Iraqi police thwarted the attacks, foiling the plans of suicide bombers targeting the pontiff.
Pope Francis has said he escaped a double suicide bombing during a visit to Iraq three years ago. The attempts on his life were foiled by British intelligence and Iraq i police. Excerpts of his book, 'Hope', were shared with Corriere della Sera on Tuesday, the pontiff’s 88th birthday. \In March 2021, the first by a pope, because Covid was still raging and the security risks were high, especially in Mosul, the northern city devastated by Islamic State militants.
\British intelligence informed Iraqi police of the planned bombings as soon as Francis arrived in Baghdad. In turn, the Iraqi police informed the Vatican’s security detail. The pontiff described how one of the suicide bombers was a woman who was heading towards Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit. A truck was also “heading there fast with the same intention”, he said. \In the book, written with the Italian author Carlo Musso and due to be published in January, Francis said he later asked Vatican security what had become of the suicide bombers. “The commander replied laconically: ‘They’re no longer here,’” Francis wrote. “Iraqi police had intercepted them and made them explode. This struck me as well: Even this is the poisonous fruit of war.” \Francis persevered with the three-day trip to six Iraqi cities, saying at the time that he was travelling as “a pilgrim of peace”. Thousands of Christians in the north of the country were killed under the rule of Islamic State between 2014 and 2017, and hundreds of thousands more fled their homes in the face of violence and persecution. Standing in the wreckage of a Mosul church, the pope urged the country’s dwindling Christian community to forgive the injustices against them by the extremists and to rebuild. During the visit, about 10,000 Iraqi police were deployed to protect the pope and curfews were imposed to limit the spread of Covid-1
POPE FRANCIS IRAQ SUICIDE BOMBING SECURITY BRITISH INTELLIGENCE
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