VATICAN CITY — The Vatican will review security procedures after a woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI for the second Christmas in a row, this time managing to knock him down before guards pulled her away, the Vatican spokesman said Friday.
Benedict, 82, wasn’t hurt and delivered his traditional Christmas Day greetings in 65 languages from the loggia that overlooks St. Peter’s Square. While a bit unsteady at first, he also delivered without problem a short speech about the world’s trouble spots.
The incident in St. Peter’s Basilica raised fresh questions about security for the pontiff, however, after officials said the woman involved had jumped the barrier at the 2008 Midnight Mass in a failed bid to get to the pope. She even wore the same red-hooded sweatshirt.
Italian officials also remarked on the odd similarity of the breach to an assault two weeks ago on Premier Silvio Berlusconi by a man with a history of psychological problems. The attack in Milan broke the premier’s nose and two teeth.
The Vatican identified the woman involved in Thursday night’s incident as Susanna Maiolo, 25, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems who was immediately taken to a clinic for treatment. Interior Ministry officials said she lived in Switzerland, and the ANSA news agency said she had traveled to Rome specifically for the Mass as she did last year.
In the 2008 incident, Maiolo never reached the pope, and security quietly tackled her. During Thursday night’s service, she launched herself over the barricade as Benedict walked down the aisle at the start of the Christmas Eve service. As security guards wrestled her to the ground, she grabbed onto Benedict’s vestments and brought him down with her.
Virtually anyone can get into a papal Mass. Tickets are required but are easy to acquire when requested in advance. Identification cards are not necessary to gain entrance, although visitors must pass through a metal detector.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said it’s not realistic to think the Vatican can ensure 100 percent security for the pope considering he is regularly surrounded by tens of thousands of people for his weekly audiences, Masses, papal greetings and other events.
“It seems that they intervened at the earliest possible moment in a situation in which zero risk cannot be achieved,” he said.
The Vatican’s security officials will nonetheless review the episode and “try to learn from experience,” Lombardi said.
It was the first time a potential attacker has come into direct contact with Benedict during his nearly five-year papacy. Security analysts have frequently warned the pope is too exposed in his public appearances, but Lombardi noted that they are a necessary part of the job.
“People want to see him up close, and he’s pleased to see them closely, too,” Lombardi said. “A zero risk doesn’t seem realistic in a situation in which there’s a direct rapport with the people.”
While Benedict was unhurt in the fall, a retired Vatican diplomat, French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, fell and fractured his hip in the commotion. He will undergo surgery in the coming days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital,said Nicola Cerbino, a hospital spokesman.
Etchegaray, emeritus archbishop of Marseille who headed the Vatican’s justice and peace and charity offices before he retired, left the basilica in a wheelchair after the fall. Despite the fracture, his condition was “good,” Lombardi said.
The cardinal received several high-ranking visitors Friday at his hospital bedside, including Benedict’s personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, and the retired Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who reported Etchegaray was “serene as always and hopes after this little operation to return home soon to continue his work,” ANSA quoted Sodano as saying.
Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno remarked on the “strange” coincidence in the recent security breaches. “We need in some way to be more vigilant over all, because in an open and globalized world,” he said, “the number of unbalanced people and their aggressiveness can increase.”
Nevertheless, since the incident occurred on Vatican territory, Vatican judicial authorities will decide whether and how to proceed with any possible charges against Maiolo. Lombardi said he didn’t know how the matter would be handled but noted that the Vatican justice system is usually “very benevolent.”
Benedict celebrated this year’s Christmas Eve Mass two hours earlier than the usual midnight starting time in a move by the Vatican to ease the pontiff’s busy schedule.
His next major appearance is scheduled for Sunday, when he will join homeless people at a Rome soup kitchen for lunch. In addition, he is due to preside over a vespers service on Dec. 31, celebrate Mass on New Year’s Day and another one to mark Epiphany on Jan. 6, and then baptize babies in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 10.
Some 1,400 miles to the southeast, thousands of pilgrims from around the world descended on the traditional birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem for the most upbeat Christmas celebrations the Palestinian town has seen in years.
Hundreds of worshippers packed St. Catherine’s Church on Manger Square for morning mass. Most were local Palestinian Christians, and the mass was celebrated in Arabic.
Some 47,000 Filipinos who fled their homes in anticipation of the eruption of the Mayon volcano spent Christmas in evacuation centers, sharing rations of noodles, fried fish and fruit. Children opened donated presents and clowns entertained the crowds as the government tried to keep the evacuees from slipping back to their homes.
In her annual Christmas speech broadcast Friday, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II paid tribute to the country’s troops who are fighting in Afghanistan, praising their work while expressing her sadness at the casualties.
The queen’s message came at the end of a year inwhich 106 British soldiers were killed in the troubled Central Asian country; 2009 has been the bloodiest year for the British military since the war started nine years ago.
In Hawaii, P resident Barack Obama began his Christmas Day with a trip to the gym and gifts for his family.
The first family ate roast beef, potatoes and traditional side dishes at a rented $9 million estate on Oahu on Friday, The White House said. The president and first lady Michelle Obama didn’t exchange gifts with each other, although they did with their daughters, aides said.
Information for this article was contributed by Mark Lavie, Dalia Nammari, Bullit Marquez, Sylvia Hui, Philip Elliott and Mark Niesse of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/26/2009