Pope Francis marked his 88th birthday by revealing that he survived two planned suicide attacks against him during a 2021 visit to Iraq because of a tip-off from British intelligence.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming autobiography, the pontiff said that he was informed by police of at least two known suicide bombers targeting one of his planned events after he landed in Baghdad in March 2021.

He said British intelligence had warned their Iraqi counterparts that a double suicide bomb attack was being planned in Mosul during the visit and that one of the bombers was a woman.

The Pope wrote: “The [Iraqi] police had alerted the Vatican Gendarmerie to a report from British intelligence: a woman packed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was on her way to Mosul to blow herself up during the papal visit.

“And a van had also left at full speed with the same intent.”