Iraqi police intercepted and killed at least two would-be suicide bombers who had planned to assassinate Pope Francis during a papal visit in 2021, the pontiff revealed in his upcoming autobiography. His advisors had warned him against making the three-day trip, which required intense security after years of rising sectarian violence. The country was also in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, heightening the risks. But Pope Francis felt he had to go, he wrote in a book except published by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. As soon as he landed in Baghdad, he was told, “A woman packed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was heading to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit. And a van had also sped off with the same intent,” he wrote in his book Spera, which means “Hope.” The next day, he asked his Swiss Guards what they knew about the attackers. “The commander told me laconically, ‘They are no more.’ The Iraqi police had intercepted them and blown them up,” the pontiff wrote. “This too was the poisonous fruit of war.” The except also describes the pope’s interfaith meetings in Iraq and his attempts to bridge religious divides. Despite previous attempts, his visit marked the first time a pope traveled to the country believed to have been the birth place of Abraham. Spera is set to be released on Jan. 14.
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