A Teenager pleads guilty in plot to kill pope

 

 A Lindenwold 17-year-old admitted Monday he plotted to kill Pope Francis during the papal visit to Philadelphia in September 2015, authorities said.

Santos Colon Jr. intended to have a sniper shoot the pope during a papal Mass, while explosives went off in the surrounding area, the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey said.

"Colon engaged someone he believed would be the sniper, but in reality was an undercover FBI employee," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"Colon engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to purchase materials to make explosive devices," the statement said.

Colon said he planned the attack from June 30 to Aug. 14, 2015, according to the statement.

The pope visited Philadelphia on Sept. 26-27 for the World Meeting of Families Congress, drawing huge crowds to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and other sites.

In a plea agreement, Colon noted he has been a patient at a mental hospital or institution, but does not believe he is "mentally ill or mentally incompetent in any respect." Read full story here