Newsmaker

Woman knocks pope to floor in Basilica

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-26 09:09

This sequence of images taken from amateur video shows an unidentified woman jumping over a barrier and grabbing Pope Benedict XVI as a guard pulls her down, while the pope walks down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on Thursday. AP

VATICAN CITY: A woman the Vatican described as unstable jumped over a barricade, lunged at Pope Benedict and knocked him to the floor at the start of his Christmas Eve mass in St Peter's Basilica on Thursday.

The 82-year-old pope was apparently not harmed and went on to finish the two-hour service, but an elderly French cardinal in the papal procession fell to the floor and was hospitalised with a broken leg.

Television pictures showed the woman, dressed in a red top, jumping over the barricade briskly and throwing herself against the pope, who fell to the marble floor.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the woman, who he described as "unstable," was the same person who tried to jump a barricade to get close to the pope at last year's Christmas mass.

French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray on a wheelchair is taken to hospital at the Vatican City in this television frame grab December 24, 2009. A woman the Vatican described as unstable jumped over a barricade, lunged at Pope Benedict and knocked him to the floor at the start of his Christmas Eve mass in St Peter's Basilica. The 82-year-old pope was apparently not harmed and went on to finish the two-hour service late on Thursday, but Etchegaray in the papal procession fell to the floor and was taken to hospital with a broken leg. [Agencies]

The pope, dressed in gold and white vestments, was helped up by security men and after a few seconds continued the procession up the centre aisle to celebrate the mass.

The woman, Susanna Maiolo, 25, was detained for questioning by Vatican security police.

She tried to get near the pope on the same occasion last year but security guards held her back, AFP reported.

She appeared confused and agitated, apparently saying she wanted to hug the pope.

The incident, which left Vatican security guards visibly shaken and bishops stunned, happened at the start of a mass at which Benedict led the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas for the fifth time since his 2005 election.

In his homily to more than 10,000 people inside Christendom's largest church, the pope urged the faithful to rediscover the simplicity of the nativity message.

The incident once again raised the question of how vulnerable the pope can be if he wants to maintain contact with the public.

"It is surprising that it happened inside St. Peter's because the security there has changed a great deal in recent years and is much more tight than it used to be," the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, told the BBC.

"But there it is. I'm sure those arrangements will be reviewed and greater care will be taken," he said.

While visitors to St. Peter's Basilica must pass through metal detectors and spot checks, security once they get in is relatively light. Vatican security is shared by a police force and Swiss guards.

The pope recounted the traditional Christmas story of Christ's birth in a manger in Bethlehem and urged Catholics to put aside the complexities and burdens of daily life and rediscover the path to God.

"We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and life and rediscover the path to God," he said.

Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful as he leads his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) Christmas Day message from the central balcony of Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican December 25, 2009. [Agencies]