chloe
12-25-2009, 10:17 AM
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VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter's Basilica got off to a tumultuous start Thursday after an apparently deranged woman jumped the barriers and knocked him down on his way to the altar.
The 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini. But 87-year-old French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, a longtime Vatican diplomat who was also dragged down, fractured his hip in the fall and will be operated on, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Friday.
The pope delivered his traditional Christmas Day blessing Friday, looking tired and unsteady but otherwise fine. The Vatican said his busy Christmas schedule would remain unchanged.
Footage 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.
Lombardi identified the woman as Susanna Maiolo, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems. Video shot by a witness showed Maiolo grabbing the pope's vestments as she was taken down, with Benedict seemingly falling on top of her.
Vatican officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Maiolo was involved in a similar incident last year in which she jumped the barricade as the pope passed. In that case, however, Maiolo never managed to reach the pope and was quietly tackled to the ground by security.
In both cases she wore a red sweat shirt.
The commotion occurred as the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rang out through the crowd that packed the basilica. The procession came to a halt and security rushed to the trouble spot.
Benedettini said Maiolo was arrested by Vatican police. "During the procession an unstable person jumped a barrier and knocked down the Holy Father," Benedettini told The Associated Press by telephone. "(The pope) quickly got up and continued the procession."
Security guards tackle woman
MaryBeth Burns from Paris, Texas, was about four people away from Maiolo and was filming the pope's procession as the commotion started.
"I'm really mad because I had a perfect shot lined up," she said. "I'm still shaking."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34588269/ns/us_news-faith/
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter's Basilica got off to a tumultuous start Thursday after an apparently deranged woman jumped the barriers and knocked him down on his way to the altar.
The 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini. But 87-year-old French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, a longtime Vatican diplomat who was also dragged down, fractured his hip in the fall and will be operated on, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Friday.
The pope delivered his traditional Christmas Day blessing Friday, looking tired and unsteady but otherwise fine. The Vatican said his busy Christmas schedule would remain unchanged.
Footage 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.
Lombardi identified the woman as Susanna Maiolo, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems. Video shot by a witness showed Maiolo grabbing the pope's vestments as she was taken down, with Benedict seemingly falling on top of her.
Vatican officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Maiolo was involved in a similar incident last year in which she jumped the barricade as the pope passed. In that case, however, Maiolo never managed to reach the pope and was quietly tackled to the ground by security.
In both cases she wore a red sweat shirt.
The commotion occurred as the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rang out through the crowd that packed the basilica. The procession came to a halt and security rushed to the trouble spot.
Benedettini said Maiolo was arrested by Vatican police. "During the procession an unstable person jumped a barrier and knocked down the Holy Father," Benedettini told The Associated Press by telephone. "(The pope) quickly got up and continued the procession."
Security guards tackle woman
MaryBeth Burns from Paris, Texas, was about four people away from Maiolo and was filming the pope's procession as the commotion started.
"I'm really mad because I had a perfect shot lined up," she said. "I'm still shaking."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34588269/ns/us_news-faith/