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The head of the Catholic Church worldwide, Pope Francis, has revealed that he escaped two attempts on his life during his historic trip to Iraq in March 2021.
This is according to excerpts from the cleric’s autobiography, published on Tuesday in Italy.
The book reveals that the British Secret Service gave an urgent warning to the pontiff’s Vatican security detail.
Read Also: Belgium Confronts Vatican Rep Over Pope’s Abortion Statement
“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, wrote that “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.
In other news, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo had also revealed that he has summoned the Vatican’s ambassador in response to Pope Francis’s remarks labeling the country’s abortion laws as “murderous,” made during the pontiff’s visit the previous week.
While speaking to parliament, Prime Minister De Croo described the Pope’s statements as “unacceptable” and confirmed that he has called in the apostolic nuncio, the Vatican’s top diplomat in Belgium, to engage in discussions about the controversy.
“My message to the apostolic nuncio will be very clear: what happened there is unacceptable,” he said.
“We do not need lessons on how our lawmakers democratically approve laws. The time when the church dictated the law in our country is fortunately long behind us,” he said.
At 87 years old, Pope Francis encountered criticism for his comments about women during a three-day visit, a trip that was overshadowed by lingering controversies surrounding sexual abuse scandals within the Church.
During his stay, the Argentinian pontiff paid tribute to late Belgian King Baudouin who took a public stance against abortion.
In 1990 Baudouin refused to sign a law lifting penalties for abortion, citing personal convictions.