A plot to assassinate Pope Francis during a trip to Iraq was halted after a tip-off from British intelligence, according to his forthcoming autobiography.
The pope writes that after landing in Baghdad in March 2021, he was told that an event at which he was scheduled to appear was being targeted by two suicide bombers.
Both attackers were then intercepted and killed, he said in excerpts published by Italian newspaper Corriere della Ser.
The visit, which took place over three days during the coronavirus pandemic, was the first ever visit to Iraq by a pope and saw an intense security operation.
In previous years, sectarian violence had increased in Iraq, with fighting between Shia and Sunni Muslims and the persecution of religious minorities.
The country’s Christian community had shrunk dramatically, mainly targeted by Islamic State and other Sunni extremists.
In excerpts from his autobiography, the Pope says that “almost everyone advised me against the visit,” but he felt he “had to do it.”
He says the plot was exposed by British intelligence, who alerted Iraqi police, and they in turn told his security service as soon as he landed.
“A woman packed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was on her way to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit,” he said.
“And with the same intention, a van had also left at high speed.”
The pope added that the next day he asked a security official what happened to the would-be attackers.
“The [official] replied laconically: ‘They are no longer there’. Iraqi police intercepted and blew them up,” he wrote.
The book, titled Hope, will be published on January 14.
According to Reuters news agency, the Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
