Pope Francis reveals he survived two threats to his life in Iraq

ACI MENA, Dec 17, 2024 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has revealed that he narrowly escaped two attempts on his life during his visit to Iraq in March 2021 in the city of Mosul.

In a new book titled “Spera” (translated as “Hope”), set to be released on Jan. 14, 2025, the Holy Father recounts his personal story, including details of the planned attack during his trip.

Advised not to go

According to Corriere della Sera, the Italian newspaper that shared excerpts from the book, the pontiff stated that most people had advised him against undertaking the apostolic visit to a land ravaged by jihadism and extremist violence. Those challenges were compounded by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the extremely high security risks.

“But I wanted to go at all costs. I felt I had to do it,” Francis said. He said that he felt an obligation to visit and meet “our forefather Abraham,” from whom Jews, Christians, and Muslims all trace their lineage.

The Holy Father also stressed that he did not want to disappoint the Iraqi people. Two decades earlier, Pope John Paul II had been unable to visit the country because then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein rejected the plan.

The city that left a mark on his heart

The city of Mosul, as the book conveys, was “a wound in the pope’s heart.” Francis described how deeply the city affected him. Viewing Mosul from a helicopter, the sight struck him like “a punch to the gut.” The historic old city, once a place of coexistence imbued with centuries of tradition and civilization, had been reduced to ruins during the three-year reign of ISIS. From above, Mosul appeared to him like an “X-ray image of hatred.”

Warnings

In the book, the pope also revealed that as soon he landed in Baghdad, Vatican security was informed by the police that British intelligence had passed on a warning: a young female suicide bomber was heading to Mosul with the intention of detonating herself during the pope’s visit. In addition, a speeding truck had been launched for the same purpose.

Despite these threats, the journey proceeded as planned.

The ‘joy and honor’ of meeting al-Sistani

Reflecting on his visit to Najaf, Pope Francis said his meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani “filled his soul with joy and honor.”

He described al-Sistani’s decision to welcome him into his home as being more eloquent than any words, declarations, or documents, as it embodied friendship and a shared sense of belonging to one human family.

The Holy Father carried with him something al-Sistani said as a “precious grace”: “People are either brothers in faith or equals in humanity.”

The day after his meeting with al-Sistani, the pope asked Vatican security about the two reported attacks. The commander responded succinctly: “They no longer exist.”

This reply also left a mark on the pope because those attacks, he noted, were the bitter fruit of a poisonous war but in the end, they were dissipated.

This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.