The first-ever Iraq visit by a pope could’ve ended disastrously, but a foiled assassination plot has enabled Pope Francis to write about the event in retrospect.
“Almost everyone advised me against that trip,” he wrote in his autobiography, reflecting on a 2021 visit to Mosul, Iraq, where a tip from British intelligence made waves through authorities and alerted the Vatican military police to two threats.
A would-be suicide bomber strapped with explosives was headed toward the city with the intent of detonating herself, according to Politico. The second, the pontiff said, was a van containing explosives that had charged toward the same area with the “same intent.”
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Pope Francis delivers his speech after his traditional Wednesday General Audience at St. Peters Square in Vatican City. (Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Despite the risk, the visit continued, with Francis insisting he tour the region for its biblical, historical value and meet with the local Christian population.
Mina Al-Oraibi, editor-in-chief of The National newspaper based in Abu Dhabi, wrote at the time that Francis had decided to embark on the 4-day trip to “reinforce the historic and natural place of Christians in Iraq and the Arab world.”
Mosul had been captured by the Islamic State group in 2014, but Iraqi forces expelled the extremists three years later, Politico reported, adding that evidence of the conflict and occupation lingered in “much of the city, including its centuries-old Catholic churches,” that were left in ruins.
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A member of the Iraqi forces walks past a mural depicting Pope Francis waving next to an Iraqi national flag drawn on a blast wall outside the Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Deliverance in the Karrada district of Iraq’s capital Baghdad on March 1, 2021, amidst preparations ahead of the pontiff’s visit. (SABAH ARAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Pope Francis later asked his security detail what had become of the bomb threats, when he learned they had been neutralized.
“The commander replied laconically, ‘They’re no longer here. Iraqi police had intercepted them and made them explode,'” he wrote, reflecting on the moment.
The autobiography titled “Hope” is slated to hit store shelves next month, but Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published excerpts from the writings on Tuesday, reports say.