Post by RoboCop on Dec 27, 2009 12:38:51 GMT -5
A woman jumped the barriers in St Peter's Basilica in Rome last night and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass.
Footage aired on Italy's RAI state TV showed a woman dressed in a red hooded jumper vaulting the wooden barriers and rushing towards the Pope before being swamped by bodyguards. The 82-year-old pontiff quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Ciro Benedettini.
The woman grabbed the pontiff's gold and white vestments as she was tackled by a security guard and both she and the pope then fell to the marble floor.
The commotion occurred as the Pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and gasps rang out through the faithful in the basilica. Confusion reigned as security guards rushed down the aisle to assist the Pope.
Reverend Benedettini said the woman who pushed the Pope appeared to be mentally unstable and had been arrested by Vatican police. He said she also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, who was taken to hospital in a wheelchair. He suffered a broken leg.
After the incident, Pope Benedict, flanked by tense bodyguards, resumed his walk to the basilica's main altar to start the Mass. He did appear somewhat shaken and leaned heavily on aides and an armrest as he sat down in his chair.
Pope Benedict made no reference to the incident as the service started. As a choir sang, he sprinkled incense on the altar before opening the Mass with the traditional wish for peace in Latin.
It was the second year in a row there was a security breach at the service. At the end of last year's Mass a woman - also wearing a red hooded top - who had jumped the barriers got close to the pope but was quickly blocked on the ground by security.
Reverend Benedettini said it was not immediately known if the same woman was behind last night’s incident.
There have been relatively few security breaches in Benedict's pontificate, which began in 2005. In 2007 a German man jumped over a barricade in St Peter's Square as the pope's jeep was passing during a general audience and tried to board the vehicle.
The most serious attack on a pope in the Vatican came in 1981 when Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, shot and nearly killed Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Square.
Last night’s incident, which left Vatican security guards visibly shaken and bishops stunned, happened at the start of a Mass at which Pope Benedict led the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas.
It again raised the question of how vulnerable the pope can be if he wants to maintain contact with the public.
"It's 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, leader of Catholics in England and Wales, 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 inside is relatively light. Vatican security is shared by a police force and Swiss Guards.
For the first time in recent memory, the Christmas Eve mass started two hours before midnight in order to give the pope more time to rest before Friday's main Christmas event at noon (1100 GMT).
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.
He 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.
"We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and are a great distance from the manger," he said.
"In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to him," he said.
Today the Pope will deliver his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" message to the city and the world from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica to crowds in the square below.
Footage aired on Italy's RAI state TV showed a woman dressed in a red hooded jumper vaulting the wooden barriers and rushing towards the Pope before being swamped by bodyguards. The 82-year-old pontiff quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Ciro Benedettini.
The woman grabbed the pontiff's gold and white vestments as she was tackled by a security guard and both she and the pope then fell to the marble floor.
The commotion occurred as the Pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and gasps rang out through the faithful in the basilica. Confusion reigned as security guards rushed down the aisle to assist the Pope.
Reverend Benedettini said the woman who pushed the Pope appeared to be mentally unstable and had been arrested by Vatican police. He said she also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, who was taken to hospital in a wheelchair. He suffered a broken leg.
After the incident, Pope Benedict, flanked by tense bodyguards, resumed his walk to the basilica's main altar to start the Mass. He did appear somewhat shaken and leaned heavily on aides and an armrest as he sat down in his chair.
Pope Benedict made no reference to the incident as the service started. As a choir sang, he sprinkled incense on the altar before opening the Mass with the traditional wish for peace in Latin.
It was the second year in a row there was a security breach at the service. At the end of last year's Mass a woman - also wearing a red hooded top - who had jumped the barriers got close to the pope but was quickly blocked on the ground by security.
Reverend Benedettini said it was not immediately known if the same woman was behind last night’s incident.
There have been relatively few security breaches in Benedict's pontificate, which began in 2005. In 2007 a German man jumped over a barricade in St Peter's Square as the pope's jeep was passing during a general audience and tried to board the vehicle.
The most serious attack on a pope in the Vatican came in 1981 when Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, shot and nearly killed Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Square.
Last night’s incident, which left Vatican security guards visibly shaken and bishops stunned, happened at the start of a Mass at which Pope Benedict led the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas.
It again raised the question of how vulnerable the pope can be if he wants to maintain contact with the public.
"It's 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, leader of Catholics in England and Wales, 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 inside is relatively light. Vatican security is shared by a police force and Swiss Guards.
For the first time in recent memory, the Christmas Eve mass started two hours before midnight in order to give the pope more time to rest before Friday's main Christmas event at noon (1100 GMT).
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.
He 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.
"We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and are a great distance from the manger," he said.
"In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to him," he said.
Today the Pope will deliver his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" message to the city and the world from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica to crowds in the square below.
From Times Online
