VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI’s Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica got off to a tumultuous start Thursday after a woman called ‘unstable’ by authorities jumped the barriers and knocked him down as he headed to the altar.
In his homily, delivered unflappably after the disruption, Benedict, 82, urged the world to “wake up” from selfishness and petty affairs, and find time for God and spiritual matters.
The pope was unhurt after his fall, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini.
Earlier, in Bethlehem, thousands of pilgrims from around the world descended on the traditional birthplace of Jesus for the most upbeat Christmas celebrations the Palestinian town has seen in years.
The Holy Land’s top Roman Catholic clergyman reminded followers that peace remains elusive, while the threat of sectarian violence in the Islamic world and the lava spilling from a volcano in the Philippines clouded the celebrations for other Christian communities across the globe.
Footage from the Vatican aired on Italy’s RAI state TV showed a woman dressed in a red, hooded sweatshirt vaulting over the wooden barriers and rushing toward the pope before being swarmed by bodyguards.
Video shot by a witness showed the woman grabbing the pope’s vestments as she was taken down, with Benedict seeming to fall on top of her.
The commotion happened as the pope’s procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rose from the crowd that packed the basilica. The procession halted and security rushed to the trouble spot.
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, who was taken to a hospital for a checkup.
“During the procession an unstable person jumped a barrier and knocked down the Holy Father,” Benedettini said. “[The pope] quickly got up and continued the procession.”
In Bethlehem, residents hemmed in by an Israeli security barrier and still recovering from years of violence, celebrated their town’s annual day in the spotlight along with pilgrims and tourists. Visitors milled around Manger Square, mingling with clergymen, camera crews and locals hawking food and trinkets.
Hanna Pioli, 23, and her sister Katherine, 25, were spending Christmas far from their hometown of Salt Lake City.
The sisters miss celebrating a “white Christmas” at home and were taken aback by the warm weather - Thursday’s high was 68 degrees - Katherine Pioli said, but she still thought Bethlehem was the best place for Christians to spend this day.
Jeffrey Lynch, 36, a sanitation worker from New YorkCity, was taking a tour through the Church of the Nativity, the fourth-century Crusader-era structure built atop the grottos that mark the spot believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.
“It’s a miracle being here on Christmas Eve. It’s a lifetime opportunity. I wish everybody could be here,” he said.
The Holy Land’s top Roman Catholic cleric, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, reminded listeners in a Christmas address that peace remains out of reach. “The wish that we most want, we most hope for, is not coming. We want peace,” Twal said after he entered Bethlehem in a traditional procession from nearby Jerusalem.
Only hours later, an Israeli man was shot and killed in the West Bank in an attack by Palestinian gunmen. Such attacks, once common, have become rare in recent years as the West Bank has regained a semblance of normalcy.
Israeli Radio identified the man as a resident of a nearby settlement, and a little-known Palestinian faction took responsibility in an e-mail sent to journalists.
Some Christians in other far-flung parts of the worldalso saw gloom dampen the Christmas cheer.
On Thursday, explosions killed dozens across Iraq, most of them Shiite pilgrims taking part in a holy mourning ceremony.
The blasts raised fears of further sectarian attacks at the approach of Ashoura, when Shiites mark a period of mourning and self-flagellation for the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.
In Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Byron Krepcho’s unit on Thursday fired mortars at enemy positions from Command Post Michigan in the Pech River Valley in the tense Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. “Ah, Christmas,” Krepcho said with a laugh. “I don’t really think about it.”
Far to the east, in the shadow of the erupting Mayon volcano in the Philippines, thousands of families were spending Christmas Eve in shelters as the volcano belched out 20columns of gray ash Thursday, some of them a mile high.
Information for this article was contributed by Dalia Nammari and Dario Lopez of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 12/25/2009