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CAMDEN, N.J. (ChurchMilitant.com) - An American teen has pleaded guilty to an assassination attempt on Pope Francis.

Santos Colon, who is 17 years old, pleaded guilty Monday to attempting to provide material support to a terror group. The plea deal could put Colon behind bars for 15 years.

Colon plotted to kill Pope Francis in September 2015 during the Holy Father's visit to the United States. Colon had reached out to a man online who claimed to be a sniper and began preparing for the man to perform a hit on Pope Francis during a Papal Mass in Philadelphia.

But the alleged hit-man turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. The teen was arrested 12 days before the Mass.

The Lindenwold, New Jersey resident pleaded as an adult in Camden Federal Court. Colon, who adopted the name "Ahmad Shakoor," claimed to be inspired by the Islamic State, and got bomb-making instructions from the internet before his 2015 arrest.

Beyond his plan to assassinate the Holy Father, Colon also admitted to hatching an ISIS-inspired bomb attack from June 30, 2015 to August 14, 2015, scoping out proposed targets in and around Philadelphia.

In pleading guilty, Colon avoids other charges, including attempting to kill a foreign official and attempting to obtain and use a weapon of mass destruction.

Sentencing will likely be held off until 2021, after Colon undergoes psychiatric treatment.

Colon, who adopted the name 'Ahmad Shakoor,' claimed to be inspired by the Islamic State.

Though Colon's attempt against the Holy Father failed, the incident sheds light on the influence of Islamism on Latinos in the United States and elsewhere.

Latinos are falling away from the Church at alarming rates, especially in the United States. According to a 2014 Pew Survey, 24 percent of American Hispanics are fallen-away Catholics, and among those Catholics who remain, most take positions on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion that put them outside the teachings of the Church.

Trends are similar though less severe in Latin America itself, with rates of those claiming to be Protestant or unaffiliated having doubled in the past generation.

Islamists have been quick to exploit this widespread apostasy. U.S. security officials estimate that hundreds of Latinos have joined Islamist groups, warning of the danger of "self-radicalization." And ISIS has threatened attacks through the porous U.S.-Mexico border.

Even respectable Islamist figures have sought to increase the Muslim presence in Latin America. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called for Latinos to embrace Islam in 2015, falsely claiming that Muslims had a presence in the New World since before Columbus' voyages.

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