Pope Francis revealed in his new memoir that he was the target of a foiled assassination plot involving a suicide bomber during his 2021 visit to Iraq.
“Almost everyone advised me against that trip,” Francis wrote in his autobiography, referring to his historic visit as the first pope to travel to Iraq. Excerpts from the book, set for release next month, were published on Tuesday by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
During the trip, he visited Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which had been seized by the Islamic State group in 2014. The extremists were driven out in 2017 by Iraqi forces, but the occupation and ensuing conflict left much of the city, including its centuries-old Catholic churches, in ruins.
Francis recounted that he was strongly advised against traveling to Iraq in March 2021—the first papal visit to the country—due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and significant security risks, particularly in Mosul, the northern city ravaged by Islamic State militants.
Despite the warnings, the pope was determined to proceed with the trip.
In his account, British intelligence alerted Iraqi police about planned bombings as soon as Francis arrived in Baghdad. The Iraqi police then passed the information to the Vatican’s security team.
The pontiff described how one of the suicide bombers was a woman heading towards Mosul to detonate herself during his visit. He added that a truck was also “heading there fast with the same intention.”
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In the memoir, co-written with Italian author Carlo Musso and set to be published in January, Francis said he later inquired with Vatican security about the fate 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 went ahead with the three-day visit to six Iraqi cities, describing himself at the time as “a pilgrim of peace.” Between 2014 and 2017, thousands of Christians in northern Iraq were killed under Islamic State rule, while hundreds of thousands fled their homes to escape violence and persecution.
Standing amidst the ruins of a church in Mosul, the pope urged the country’s shrinking Christian community to forgive the injustices committed against them by the extremists and focus on rebuilding.
During the visit, around 10,000 Iraqi police were deployed to ensure the pope’s safety, and curfews were imposed to help curb the spread of Covid-19.
Originally planned for release after Francis’s death, the book is instead being published to coincide with the start of the 2025 jubilee—a year of global celebrations for Catholics to renew their faith. The pope will officially open the event, held every 25 years, on December 24.
The Italian publisher Mondadori described Hope as the first autobiography published by a pope, although Francis has previously authored other memoir-style works.
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