Pope Francis has revealed that two assassination attempts against him were plotted during his 2021 visit to Iraq, which marked the first papal visit to the country and one of the most risky foreign trips of his 11-year papacy.
In excerpts from his future autobiography Hope (Spera), published by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday, the Pope revealed that he received information from Iraqi police straight after landing in Baghdad: two known suicide bombers were said to be targeting one of his planned events in Mosul.
Here’s what the Pope revealed?
According to the Pope, British intelligence informed the Vatican of the threat. “A woman stuffed with explosives, a young kamikaze, was heading to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit,” he wrote. “And a van had also set off at full speed with the same intent.”
The attempts on the assassinations were allegedly took place during the visit of Pope Francis to Mosul, ISIS’s stronghold, from 2014 till 2017. The tour included a visit to a place where remains of four destroyed churches had been established, and as one of the key parts of this visit, Pope Francis spoke out for peace and denounced the suffering endured by Christians in Iraq under the rule of ISIS.
The next day, Pope Francis asked a security official about the would-be bombers. “The commander replied laconically: ‘They are no more.'” Francis wrote. He was informed that Iraqi police had intercepted and detonated the suicide bombers before they could carry out the attack. “That, too, was very striking to me. This, too, was the poisoned fruit of war,” he added.
Pope’s visit to Iraq
The visit of the Pope to Iraq was highly anticipated when the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to ease; however, it was also a dangerous move. Apart from the security risks posed by ISIS, Iraq has its own sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims that adds more complexity to the process. Iraqi authorities deployed thousands of extra security personnel in order to protect the Pope, and most of the events held during his visit were limited in public access.
At the time, the Vatican had kept details of the security arrangements under tight wraps, and the Pope’s autobiography provides new insights into the behind-the-scenes challenges of the trip. The Pope felt strongly about making the journey despite the security risks. “Almost everyone advised me against making the trip,” he said, but he felt it was essential to visit “our grandfather Abraham, the common ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.”
Another Assassination Attempt
Another similar context to Pope Francis’s visit to Iraq was when the defeat of ISIS had almost lost most of its territories in both Iraq and Syria by 2019. When the Pope visited Mosul, he did so against the backdrop of the ruins of the city, witnessing firsthand the devastating effects ISIS had left on the area, including churches destroyed and a Christian population forced out.
Iraq’s Christian community, one of the oldest in the world, had been severely hit by the rise of ISIS. The country’s Christian population had dwindled to fewer than 250,000 from an estimated 1.4 million before the 2003 U.S. invasion, according to a 2019 report by the U.S. State Department.
Despite the threats, all went smoothly in Mosul where Pope Francis was to arrive last weekend. As viewed from above, the city appears an “expanse of rubble” says Pope Francis; in effect, it appeared to me from above like an X-ray of hatred. “As the first foreign papal visit in decades for war-torn Iraq, he described it as “very important gesture of solidarity towards its Christians and for the quest for peace.”.
The Pope’s autobiography, to be published on January 14, 2024, was co-written with the Italian author Carlo Musso. There has been no comment from the Vatican regarding the recent disclosures by the Pope on attempts to assassinate him.
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