A double assassination attempt against Pope Francis. The revelation is made by the pontiff himself in an autobiography that will be released in January, titled Spera. The life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who is celebrating his 88th birthday today, would have been at risk during his trip to Iraq in 2021: “Almost everyone advised against that trip,” Francis claims in a preview published by the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, which would have been the first for a Pontiff in the Middle East region devastated by extremist violence and jihadist profanations.
In the book, which will be simultaneously published in the main languages and in over 100 countries, the Pope emphasizes that he felt “the need to go visit our grandfather Abraham, the common ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.” It was, therefore, a journey decided with strength, and the Pope, despite the risk of attacks and the ongoing Covid emergency, was determined to carry it out.
The police intercepted a young woman kamikaze and a van they suspected were planning to attack the Pope
The police had alerted the Vatican Gendarmerie to information from British secret services: a woman filled with explosives, a young kamikaze, was heading towards Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit. Additionally, a van had also left at full speed with the same intention. The journey continued.
Francisco reviews the stages of the historic visit to Iraq and, after Mosul, he states: "I asked the Gendarmerie what was known about the two attackers; the commander replied laconically: 'They are no longer here.' The Iraqi police had intercepted and detonated them. In any case, the apostolic journey took place and, among other milestones, the Pope visited the holy city of Shiite Islam, Najaf, and met with its highest authority, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to advocate for dialogue between religions.
“That meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had been prepared by the Holy See for decades, without any of my predecessors managing to bring it to fruition,” acknowledges Pope Francis.