Christmas assault on pope in St Peter’s

Pope Benedict delivered his traditional Christmas Day blessing in 65 languages to worshippers packing St Peter’s square just hours after a 25-year-old woman, said to be mentally disturbed, knocked him to the ground of the basilica as he was preparing to say Christmas Eve mass.

The 82-year-old pontiff was said by the Vatican not to have been hurt, but Roger Etchegaray, an 87-year-old French cardinal, broke his femur in the incident when Susanna Mailo, wearing a red-hooded sweatshirt, climbed over a barricade and managed to grab the pope by his vestments, pulling him down to the marble floor as security personnel intervened.

The incident – coming less than two weeks after a man with a history of mental problems broke the nose of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, outside Milan’s cathedral – has further fuelled a debate over security and violence in Italy.

Mr Berlusconi’s centre-right government used the attack on the prime minister to accuse the centre-left opposition of creating a “climate of hatred” in Italy. The latest incident might lend weight to those few observers who said one question raised by the assault on Mr Berlusconi was the state of care in Italy for the mentally ill.

Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, admitted that Ms Mailo, who was said to hold dual Italian-Swiss nationality, had tried to breach papal security at last year’s Christmas mass. But he said it would be “unthinkable” for the Vatican to create a wall between the pontiff and the faithful. Defending the security arrangements, he said the woman was not armed and did not appear particularly dangerous.

Italian media quoted the woman, who was arrested and taken to a medical facility, as saying she had not intended to harm the pope. The incident occurred as the pope’s procession was making its way toward the main altar. As usual security was relatively light although worshippers do pass through metal detectors.

Pope Benedict made no mention of his tumble in his Christmas Urbi et Orbi message which he delivered from the basilica‘s balcony. He spoke of the global financial crisis, conflicts across the world, particularly in Africa and the Holy Land, and drew attention to the plight of Christians in Iraq.

The Vatican had brought forward the mass on Christmas Eve by two hours out of concern for his heavy schedule and his health.

In 1981 Pope John Paul II was seriously wounded by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, who shot him in St Peter’s Square.