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."

Corriere della Sera, the Italian daily newspaper, published a brief excerpt from the Pope's memoir on Tuesday, which is titled Hope: The Autobiography and was written with Carlo Musso, the Italian author.

The book will be released in more than 80 countries in January.

Recalling the trip in his book, he spoke about overcoming widespread opposition and serious security concerns around travelling to Iraq while violence continued to rage in parts of the country and Islamic State insurgents remained entrenched in some areas at the time.

Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, was once a headquarters for Islamic State militants who had forced thousands of Christians to flee. During his visit there, the Pope urged Christians to forgive injustices and called for peace as he stood in the ruins of a church.

He also held a meeting with the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, one of the leading authorities of Shia Islam, during the trip.

The day after the foiled suicide attack, the Pope asked a security official what had happened to the two bombers. "The commander replied laconically: 'They are no more'," he wrote.

"The Iraqi police had intercepted them and blown them up... This too was the poisoned fruit of war."

The autobiography, which was originally intended to be released after the Pope's death, is being published to coincide with the Vatican's Jubilee 2025, a holy year that he will officially inaugurate on Christmas Eve.

On Tuesday, The New York Times also released excerpts from the book that highlighted the Pope's love of humour and irony.

"Irony is a medicine, not only to lift and brighten others, but also ourselves because self-mockery is a powerful instrument in overcoming the temptation toward narcissism," he said.

According to Mondadori, the Italian publisher, Hope is the first memoir ever published by a sitting pope.

However, Pope Francis has published other books and conducted lengthy book-long interviews with biographers and journalists, including Life: My Story Through History, which was released earlier this year.