Disgruntled Pope Francis slaps hand of woman who grabs him; later apologizes

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When she was pulling on him, he seemed to wince in pain.

Pain causes us to act not ourselves.

I sort of remember yelling at the intern when I was in active labor with my daughter. “Why are you over there wasting time when I’m going to have to a baby NOW!!”

I’m normally not a yeller (at strangers)
 
Perhaps I’m wrong, but isn’t Pope Francis trying to move away from the perception of “kings and thrones and fancy robes” etc and towards humility and Catholic priests being perceived as servant of servants?
To be honest, these sorts of robes and carrying and golden chair etc, while acceptable in their era, would likely give many non Christian people in today’s world a negative impression.
Also, it may stop hand grabbing like with this woman, it wouldn’t prevent potential gun assasination attempts.
 
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Glad he apologized. He knew he was wrong. You don’t hit a woman.

That should be the end of it but it’s a little disturbing to see the ‘she had it coming to her’ excuses still being put forth. And the age excuse…so is 83 the age where it is okay to react like that? 80? How bout 75?
 
Just saying, I don’t know if the Asian lady comes from Vietnam but Vietnam has a heavy-handed government, I’ve seen it called “Stalinist” It may not be the worse as far as dictators go but the government certainly doesn’t sound very friendly. A fair number of tourists go there too.


So, I might consider that too. The Asian lady might not even be aware of much Italian, Spanish or English in being in Rome. For the record, I do find an article for Nov. 2019 as well from Church Militant. Just so one knows, I’m not just posting old news stories.
 
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yankeesouth said:
You don’t hit a woman.
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We’re supposed to keep our hands to ourselves. If you’re accosted, it doesn’t matter if the individual is a man or woman. That person can be charged with assault. Legally speaking, he had every right to remove himself from an unwanted touch. This is not the same as abusing women.
 
Cruciferi said:
That person can be charged with assault
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The Pope was out shaking hands. A person reaching out to shake his hand is not assaulting him. At the worst, I would consider it a misunderstanding on her part.

The Pope has made a public apology, but I wonder if he’s met with the lady to apologize and to hear what she desperately wanted to say?
 
There was this recent opinion article about the Pope Security. I agree with much of what is said here about the Pope’s security…

“It’s the Pope’s security team who should be apologising,” said the founder of Italy’s elite special police interventions unit, whose identity is protected but who goes by the name Commandant Alfa. “The lady wouldn’t let go of the Pope’s hand, and he was forced to slap her hand a little bit in order to get out of the way,” Alfa told the AGI news agency. “But it shouldn’t have gotten to that point.”
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/popes-bodyguards-criticised-over-slapping-incident/ar-BBYyFam
 
No Jesus wouldn’t have. Remember though, that Jesus wasn’t 80something years old. Pope Francis is aged and frail, he could have lost his balance and he’s fully human!!!
 
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I will add that the first pope Peter cut off someone’s ear, in the very presence of Jesus. We should always remember that in as much as the pope is the vicar of Christ, he is but a man and imperfect, while Jesus is God and is Perfect.
 
Imagine if he wasn’t a Catholic leader.

Disgruntled Pope Francis slaps hand of woman who grabs him.

Becomes…

Selfish fanatic aggressively grabs frail 83 year old chiefs arm.

I’m not calling the woman selfish or a fanatic, I’m just attacking the press.
 
I must admit I kind of enjoyed/appreciated his reaction. It shows his humanity - it’s likely that many of us would have reacted that way. His apology showed charity and kindness.
 
Perhaps you are correct as far as legality goes. But the Holy Father apologized, that should serve as a lesson to all of us. While his reaction was certainly understandable and excusable, in hindsight, he still realizes it was wrong. Good for the Holy Father. It shows a degree of humility that is very nice to see. We should all be more forthcoming with apologies in such situations.
 
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It looked to me like he already had the lady next to her hand held, and that he was in the process of letting it go and turning from the crowd when this second lady then grabbed it?
 
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Minks . . . .
Everyone needs to zoom in on the hands of all in the vicinity and watch the woman to our right of the petite woman.
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I did.

It’s his own body guard putting “the squeeze” on the Pope.


The body guard probably grabbed the wrong wrist and began pinching and squeezing that. Or was pulling the Pope’s wrist away.

Either way, what you are pointing out is his own bodyguard.
 
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7_Sorrows . . .
It seems we all see it a different way!!
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There will be more probably in the ensuing days or weeks.

Someone a lot more video saavy than I will slow it down and magnify it.

There are two hands on the Pope.

The obvious hand grabbing the Pope’s hand was from the Filipino woman who the Pope slapped. (Or at least she looks Filipino to me.)

That is undisputed.

The other hand was considerably larger.
That’s the hand that was of the body guard.
At least as far as I can tell.
The bodyguard’s hand comes up from underneath the Pope’s wrist.


The grabbing-bodyguard is almost entirely eclipsed by the Pope when this begins.

I can see the grabbing-bodyguard’s large hand come up underneath the Pope’s wrist at 20 seconds into the video.

The other bodyguard of the Pope who was at the side and slightly behind the Pope just watched.

But the bodyguard that the Pope obscures is the one who was doing the bodyguard-grabbing here.

After the Pope moves away you can see THAT grabbing-bodyguard easier.

The grabbing-bodyguard maintains contact with the woman while the Pope angrily retreats.

The non-grabbing bodyguard (who looks to be carrying a “doctors bag” in his left hand) just stands there while the Pope walks away for the first two steps of the Pope after this happened.
 
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I did see the bodyguard come up to the woman and put his hands over hers after
the Pope broke free. The woman next to the woman who got her hand slapped
initially grabbed the Pope’s hand, but I don’t believe she yanked the Pope towards them.
 
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I can’t wait until this thread gets closed! Honestly, the entire thread is painful… 😐
 
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