Pope Francis turns 88, says he almost didn’t make it

Francis celebrates his birthday with children. File Pic/VATICAN

Pope Francis turned 88 on Tuesday and marked the occasion with revelations that he almost didn't make it. According to excerpts of his upcoming autobiography, suicide bombers had planned to attack him during his 2021 visit to Iraq, but were killed before striking.

In the excerpts, Francis recalled that Mosul had been the Islamic State headquarters and British intelligence informed Iraqi police that a woman wearing explosives was heading toward Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit. The visit went ahead as planned.

Francis later asked his Vatican security detail what became of the suicide bombers. "The commander replied ‘Iraqi police had intercepted them and made them explode'. This struck me as well: Even this is the poisonous fruit of war," he says in his book.

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