Pope Francis: He escaped two assassination attempts in Iraq

Almost everyone had advised him against this trip – but Pope Francis (88) was not deterred. Now the pontiff is revealing explosive details about his historic visit to Iraq in March 2021 in his autobiography “Hoffe”: two attempted attacks were thwarted by security forces. “In Iraq, I escaped a double attack. They killed the assassins”, . The first excerpts from it were printed on his birthday, December 17th.

“I was advised against it by almost everyone,” the head of the Catholic Church recalls the delicate journey, according to an advance publication. The corona pandemic was not yet over; even the Holy See’s ambassador to Baghdad had just tested positive. Above all, there were “extreme security risks”; even bloody attacks on the day before departure did not deter the Pope at the time: “But I wanted to go through with it. I had the feeling that I had to do it.”

Even the British secret services warned the Vatican gendarmerie about his trip: a young woman with an explosive belt was on her way to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit. At the same time, a transporter approached “with the same murderous intent,” as the Pope writes in his book.

“After Mosul, I asked the gendarmerie what had happened to the two assassins,” reports Francis. The laconic answer: “It doesn’t exist anymore.” The Iraqi police could have intercepted them and killed them immediately. A circumstance that deeply moved the Pope: “That too was a poisoned fruit of the war.”

The visit was the first ever trip by a Catholic church leader to Iraq. The Pope wanted to set an example for dialogue between religions. “I felt the need to visit our grandfather Abraham, the common ancestor of Jews, Christians and Muslims,” ​​he explains his deep motivation.

The autobiography “Hoffe”, which he wrote together with the author Carlo Musso, will be published on January 14, 2025. It is the first work of its kind by a reigning pope and will be published simultaneously in over 100 countries and numerous languages.