Pope Francis says he escaped two attempts on his life during 2021 Iraq visit

Vatican City

Pope Francis has said that he escaped two attempts on his life during his historic visit to Iraq in 2021. He made this claim in his upcoming autobiography, which will be released next month.

On Tuesday (Dec 17), Italian media published an excerpt from the autobiography titled "Hope" which talked about Pope Francis being targeted. The autobiography is due to be released on January 14. 

The attempts on Pope's life

Pope Francis, who turned 88 on Tuesday, said that during his visit to Iraq, "A woman packed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was heading towards Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit."

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"And a van had also set off at great speed with the same intention," he added. According to Italian media, two attackers were intercepted and killed by the Iraqi police.

Pope's historic visit to Iraq in March 2021 lasted for three days. At that time, this was Francis's first trip in 15 months and took place in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

'Almost everyone advised me against Iraq visit'

The excerpt from the pope's biography further revealed that "almost everyone advised me" against the visit to Iraq, "but I wanted to get to the bottom of things. I felt I had to do it."

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During his trips abroad, the pope's security is taken care of by the Pontifical Swiss Guard and the Vatican Gendarmerie, in collaboration with local law enforcement.

(With inputs from agencies)