{"id":39568,"date":"2024-12-18T01:43:57","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T06:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/pope-assassination-plot-foiled-by-uk-intelligence\/18\/12\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-12-18T01:43:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T06:43:57","slug":"pope-assassination-plot-foiled-by-uk-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/pope-assassination-plot-foiled-by-uk-intelligence\/18\/12\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope assassination plot foiled by UK intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">A plot to assassinate Pope Francis during a trip to Iraq was stopped following a tip-off from British intelligence, according to his upcoming autobiography.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">The Pope writes that, after landing in Baghdad in March 2021, he was told an event at which he was set to appear was being targeted by two suicide bombers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">Both attackers were subsequently intercepted and killed, he said in excerpts published by Italian newspaper Corriere della Ser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">The visit, which took place over three days during the coronavirus pandemic, was the first ever to Iraq by a pope and saw an intense security operation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">The years before had seen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-56302173?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:increased sectarian violence;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">increased sectarian violence<\/a> in Iraq, with fighting between Shia and Sunni Muslims as well as the persecution of religious minorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">The country&#8217;s Christian community had shrunk dramatically, having been targeted in particular by the Islamic State group and other Sunni extremists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">In excerpts of his autobiography, the Pope says &#8220;almost everyone advised me against&#8221; the visit but he felt he &#8220;had to do it&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">He says the plot was uncovered by British intelligence, who warned Iraqi police, and they in turn told his security detail once he had touched down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;A woman packed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was heading towards Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;And a van had also set off at great speed with the same intention.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">The Pope adds that he asked a security official the following day what had happened to the would-be attackers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;The [official] replied laconically: &#8216;They are no more&#8217;. The Iraqi police had intercepted them and blown them up,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">The book, entitled Hope, is due to be published on 14 January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/pope-assassination-plot-foiled-uk-052743321.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A plot to assassinate Pope Francis during a trip to Iraq was stopped following a tip-off from British intelligence, according to his<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/pope-assassination-plot-foiled-by-uk-intelligence\/18\/12\/2024\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}