Pope Francis says survived two assassination attempts during Iraq trip

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi security forces foiled two assassination attempts targeting Pope Francis during his historic trip to the country three years ago, the pontiff says in his forthcoming biography as reported by the Italian media on Tuesday.

In the book, set to be released next month, the pope describes warnings from British intelligence about the plots, including one involving “a woman packed with explosives, a young kamikaze, was heading to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit," and another where “a van had also set off at full speed with the same intent,” as detailed in an excerpt published by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

The incidents occurred in Mosul, the former stronghold where the Islamic State (ISIS) declared its caliphate in 2014, leaving the city devastated after its defeat in 2017.

In March 2021, Pope Francis made a historic visit to Iraq, becoming the first pontiff to visit the country. The trip included stops in Baghdad, Mosul, and Najaf, where he met Iraq's highest Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The pope concluded his visit by holding a Holy Mass in Erbil, delivering messages of peace and coexistence.

In Mosul, the Pope held prayers for victims of ISIS and visited other significant Christian sites in the city.

“One of the world’s oldest cities,” Vatican News cited the pontiff as saying, “Overflowing with history and traditions, which had seen different civilizations come and go and was a symbol of peaceful coexistence of diverse cultures in one country - Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Turks, Christians, Syriacs - appeared to my eyes as a field of rubble after three years of occupation by the Islamic State, which had chosen it as its stronghold.”

Iraqi authorities have not commented on the two assassination attempts.