- Francis, who turned 88 on Tuesday, disclosed that he was warned not to embark on the trip to the beleaguered Middle East nation but he ignored the admonitions of his well-meaning advisers as he wanted to see things for himself.
The head of the Catholic Church worldwide, Pope Francis, has recounted how he had a close shave with death in Iraq three years ago.
The papacy disclosed that he escaped death by a whisker on two separate occasions during his historic trip to Iraq in March 2021.
The details of the two attempts on his life and how he escaped them were chronicled in the cleric’s autobiography published on Tuesday in Italy.
According to excerpts from the book, the British Secret Service alerted the pontiff’s Vatican security detail of the threats to his life.
“A woman packed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was heading towards Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit,” he wrote in “Hope”, which goes on sale in over 80 countries in January.
“And a van had also set off at great speed with the same intention,” he added.
The excerpts were published by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Francis, who turned 88 on Tuesday, disclosed that he was warned not to embark on the trip to the beleaguered Middle East nation but he ignored the admonitions of his well-meaning advisers as he wanted to see things for himself.
“almost everyone advised me against” the trip to Iraq, “but I wanted to get to the bottom of things. I felt I had to do it.”
The pope made a historic three-day visit to the Arab nation in March 2021 amid intense security.
It was Francis’s first trip in 15 months and took place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic
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