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| Europe |
| Vatican admits pontiff vulnerable |
| 2009-12-26 |
| The Vatican has said it is impossible to protect the Pope from incidents like that on Thursday night, when a woman grabbed him at Christmas Eve Mass. Spokesman Frederico Lombardi said the Pope was regularly surrounded by tens of thousands of people at audiences, Masses, greetings and other events. He said it was unthinkable to create a wall between the Pope and the faithful. The Pope was not injured when Susanna Maiolo, 25, hurled herself at him in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican but an elderly French cardinal standing nearby, Roger Etchegaray, suffered a broken hip. The woman, who tried to throw herself at Benedict at the same Christmas Eve service one year ago, is now receiving psychiatric treatment and Mr Lombardi said he thought she would be dealt with very leniently by the Vatican. Father Lombardi said it was not realistic to think the Vatican could ensure 100% security for the Pope and that security guards appeared to have acted as quickly as possible. "It seems that they intervened at the earliest possible moment in a situation in which zero risk cannot be achieved," he told the Associated Press news agency. "People want to see him up close and he's pleased to see them closely too. A zero risk doesn't seem realistic in a situation in which there's a direct rapport with the people." Vatican security officials would, the spokesman added, nonetheless review the episode and "try to learn from experience". Mr Berlusconi, who is recovering from a violent attack in Milan earlier in the month, spoke to Italian TV after the attack on the Pope. "We must really fight back against all these manufacturers of lies, extremism and hatred," he said. It is still unclear what had motivated Ms Maiolo, who holds dual Swiss and Italian nationality. She told doctors she had not wanted to hurt the pontiff, Italy's La Repubblica newspaper said in a report on its online edition. French Cardinal Paul Poupard, who was with the pontiff at the time of the incident, said it had been "definitely a threat to the Pope". "With hindsight, you would say greater vigilance was needed, so those in charge of security should not let their guard drop even for a second," he added. The Pope is protected by a combination of Swiss Guards, Vatican police and Italian police. |
| Posted by:Steve White |