POPE John Paul II was on his way to Rome's Fiumicino airport on Saturday afternoon to fly to Sarajevo when the Holy See receive an unwelcome phone call. Fro Sarajevo came official confirmation that a score of anti tank mines had been planted under a bridge on the route he was shortly to take.
Technically, it would have possible to call off this weekend's long anticipated visit to the Bosnian capital. Even if the thought of postponement crossed the minds of the Pope's closest advisers, none of them would have dared suggest it to him at that late hour. They know their Pope too well, know that he would have ignored the advice and continued on his way to Sarajevo, at the invitation of Bosnia's collective presidency.
Three years ago, in September 1994 the Pope had delayed and cajoled and implored his Bosnian hosts before reluctantly accepting the advice of UN security forces and postponing a planned 12 hour visit to Sarajevo, then a city caught up in the full horrors of conflict.
On that occasion, Bosnian Serbs laying siege to Sarajevo had made it clear that they considered the Pope a legitimate target. After hours of indecision and under constraint from his advisers, the Pope reluctantly cancelled his visit, making a promise that he would one day visit Sarajevo.
This weekend's bomb threat will change little or nothing in Vatican security arrangements. The most travelled Pope in history has also been the pontiff most open to violent attack in May 1981 he nearly lost his life after being twice shot in the stomach by a Turkish gunman Ali Agca in St Peter's Square.
Senior Curia figures simply shake their heads in resignation when asked about the Pontiff's personal safety. Referring back to the Ali Agca shooting, they point out that if the Pope is at risk in St Peter's, he is much more at risk when he travels abroad.
With a different type of Pope in a different pontificate, the risks could be greatly reduced. The Vatican's security staff, however, long ago gave up any attempt to curb this Pope's movements.
Speaking last weekend, Cardinal Virgilio Noe, Cardinal to the Basilica of St Peter's, explained: "The Holy Father is a man of divine providence dedicated to bringing peace to the world, notwithstanding divisions, confines and difficulties. After the attack on his life by Ali Agca, many people were frightened that the Pope would stop travelling. On the contrary, however, he travelled even more afterwards and he will continue now, despite the bombs in Sarajevo."
Only the increasingly fragile health of the Pope has made life easier for the Vatican's security staff, a small full time body made up largely of former Italian policemen who are always by his side, at home or abroad.
Even at 76, the Pope still has a summer of travel in front of him including pastoral visits to his native Poland, France and Brazil. However, it is the Pope's visit to Beirut next month which is causing much concern in the Vatican.
If danger lies ahead, danger has certainly marked this pontificate. On at least nine occasions since his election in 1978, Pope John Paul appears to have been the object of attempted assassination. On only one occasion, the attack in May 1981, did the assailant actually harm the Pope.
The other incidents were: February 1981 a suicide bomber kills himself during a papal Mass in Karachi, Pakistan; May 1982 - a Spaniard tries to attack the Pope with a knife in Fatima; May 1984 - during a visit to South Korea, a young man points a plastic gun at the Pope "fur a joke"; November 1986 - in Brisbane, Australia, a young man armed with bombs was arrested just before the Pope's arrival; May 1988 - terrorists set off four bombs during a papal visit to Peru; February 1994 - 58 people die in a bomb attack on the Church of the Madonna Del Parto in Jounieh, Lebanon. This and other attacks force the cancellation of a papal visit planned for May 1994.
In January 1995 police in Manila revealed they had foiled a plot by an Islamic movement to kill the Pope during the celebration of World Youth Day in the Philippines.