Assailant tackled at Midnight Mass in Rome

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Hipster_Doofus

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What’s this I read about some guy leaping out at the Pope during the recessional after the Midnight Mass at St. Peter’s? My local NBC affiliate broke away from coverage of the Mass shortly after the Consecration.:mad:
 
Its not a lot of information, but its something.
As Benedict left the basilica through the main aisle, a person who had jumped the barriers got close to the pope but was quickly blocked on the ground by security.
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The Vatican’s spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said he did not know who the person was but added that the disturbance hadn’t caused any problems.
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“The Holy Father continued on his way calmly. I imagine it was someone who wanted to greet him or pay homage to him,” Lombardi said by telephone. “I have no reason to believe he was armed.”
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google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCHaXUtqlV9tiJ4IoyaVpoZMlrgAD959F2S80

CNN has a slightly different take:
As Benedict was leaving down the main aisle, someone wearing red jumped the barrier. The person was swiftly tackled by security. The pope appeared to slow his step momentarily and take a slight step back as the action took place, but he quickly resumed the processional, waving to the audience.
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cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/12/24/vatican.midnight.mass/?iref=mpstoryview
 
Wow. That’s scary. Could this have been an assassination attempt? 🤷:confused: Praise be to God that they were able to stop this man!
 
Probably just wanted to wish him Merry Christmas.

Joyeux noelle
 
I saw a clip of this online. She was probably just an excited pilgrim, who wanted a blessing, or just to be noticed by the Holy Father, or something.
 
Gotta love CNN for their capacity to get it right…since he was leaving the basilica, it would have been the REcessional, not PROcessional. Genius, I tell you. 😃 FWIW, I don’t normally pick over the grammar, but when the news agencies, whose job it is to get it right, obviously can not, that says something to me, and it isn’t generally positive.

That said - I’m glad nothing too seriously came of this. Hopefully it was just an excited pilgrim and nothing more.
 
Hipster_Doofus said:
What’s this I read about some guy leaping out at the Pope during the recessional after the Midnight Mass at St. Peter’s? My local NBC affiliate broke away from coverage of the Mass shortly after the Consecration.:mad:
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I didn’t see it either-my NBC affiliate broke away for local programming at the Sign of Peace! :mad: (I sent an email to the station the next day to protest)

Thank God for the security guys! 👍
 
A man in red on Christmas, eh? Did he shake like a bowl full of jelly as he was taken down?
 
For that matter I wouldn’t want to get on the business end of one of those Swiss Guard’s halberds.
 
Man, neither would I! I’ve seen those babies close up, and they’re menacing…roanoker
 
I heard it was a woman who got a little excited! I would too! Well…maybe not that much! 🙂
 
Chris_LaRock said:
Maybe she was confused and thought she was on ‘the price is right’?👍
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Who knows. In this day and time, you can’t even take your chances with a woman, although I would think that she would have been less likely to intend to harm the Pope. The question I have though, is why did she jump the barier?
 
She didn’t get too far. Here is a video which shows her from lurching from the corner:
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