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

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Because stuff happens… It’s bound too. It’s a crowd. People push, pull and shove sometimes just out of instinct. Fans get excited. Sometimes things can even be a bit dangerous. These are not crimes or sins. Now we’re showing never ending replays of it. I struggle to see the value.
 
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I was thinking the same thing–about balance… I have a problem at my age and it’s not 83 YET!!! My first reaction would be to try to stay steady…
 
Great observation. I know from experience that grandkids grabbing your arthritic fingers suddenly can cause an instant reaction… not always loving… 😦
 
Don’t you love the headlines or the titles though. Why not–Startled Pope slaps hand, pulls himself free…
 
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jack63 said:
Because stuff happens… It’s bound too. It’s a crowd. People push, pull and shove sometimes just out of instinct. Fans get excited. Sometimes things can even be a bit dangerous. These are not crimes or sins. Now we’re showing never ending replays of it. I struggle to see the value.
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I think we should be thankful it is a minor incident we are commenting on.
This is the society we live in today when tv cameras are everywhere.

It is normal to want to see what exactly happened before Pope Francis
reacted.

Minks commented he viewed what happened differently, so I went back to look again.

I don’t see anything painful about it. Hopefully, it won’t happen again. Maybe the
public watching this will learn not to grab the Pope like this and maybe those
who walk with the Pope will be a little more vigilant and stick closer to him.
There are things to learn from this.
 
Minks.
Nope! Look again!
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I looked more times already than I want to.

It was awkward all around.

If the readers want to see for theselves, have at it.

If you want to describe what you are seeing and at whatever times of my video feel free as well. Maybe I will change my mind.

Right now I have had more than enough of this embarassing story though.

For the readers here.

Here again is my description so you can judge yourself.

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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The legality is moot. He’s sovereign. In theory he could have executed her on the spot and no one could have done a thing. Of course that would have been morally wrong… but either way, civil legality does not enter into the equation when it comes to the Pope.
 
A few people have now said she deserved more than she got. Not sure what that means… security detail immediately slicing her hand off as per Sharia law? Bizarre response: she deserved far more than a slap! Some people…
 
I don’t disagree since it was on the grounds of the Holy See. I was only responding to the statement by another poster that it was assault (which I find rather outrageous).
 
have to pause that video to get the full nuance of the incident.
Four hands involved.
  1. Pope’s hand/wrist initially grabbed by the right hand of the lady to the left of the Asian lady. This lady is seen using her smartphone then she clasps her smartphone to her chest with her left hand while using her right to reach out to the Pope’s hand/wrist and turn him back slightly.
  2. Asian lady reaches out with her right hand to grasp the Pope’s hand. She is clearly the one yanking the Pope. The lady to her left finds her own hand and arm at an angle at which she has no leverage to pull the Pope in the direction he was pulled. That is all on the Asian lady who then brings her left hand so she has the Pope’s hands in both of hers.
  3. Fourth hand is that of the bodyguard trailing the Pope. By this time the lady to the left appears to have withdrawn her own hand. The bodyguard grabs the Asian lady’s left hand and pulls it away, but she won’t let go with her right hand.
  4. The Pope slaps her right hand and then the bodyguard immediately gets that hand in his own left hand and restrains both of her hands.
The Pope is not a young strong man like Jesus was. He’s old and arthritic, that probably hurt a lot and scared the heck out of him. Seniors have fall risks; anyone who hangs around them knows that. Of course the Pope was going to apologize, he’s the Pope. But he didn’t have to, it was the two ladies and where are their apologies for grabbing at him like that?
 
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Zzyzx_Road . . .
Pope’s hand/wrist initially grabbed by the right hand of the lady to the left of the Asian lady.
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Yes but I took that to be a hand hold more than a grab. But yes that is true.

@Minks. That must be what you were alluding to as well.


Again. I just thought of her hand-hold as among all the others before, but yeah I see what you are saying.

As I said. This whole thing is just awkward all around.

A lot of hands there.

The Pope.
The brown haired lady (with the scarf over her mouth).
The Filipino lady (next to the brown-haired lady).
The body guard (mostly obscured by the Pope).
 
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Totally weird–i see what you see in your video, but in the video in this article, I see it very differently.

The woman next to the Asian woman reaches up at about 4 seconds, pulls the Pope’s arm, and seems to pass it to the Asian women’s hands, 5, and you can still see the tall woman’s hand on the Pope’s wrist as the guard approaches at 6 and 7 seconds.

It looks very different!

ETA: I have no clue how to get a url from YouTube, and you can’t do slo-mo (or at least I cannot) on the Telegraph site, so I searched YouTube for the Telegraph version to watch in slow motion.
 
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Annie . . .
ETA: I have no clue how to get a url from YouTube . . .
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Thanks Annie.

I will post it for you.


And for those that want to compare here is the one I posted earlier too.

 
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Cathaholic did a better job than I did of posting Annie’s video, so I canceled my post.

Now, on what the Pope did, I didn’t think slapping her hand was that big of a deal, but he could also have just smiled, let his hand trail behind him as he tried to move on, and then either let her let go on her own or else let his security deal with it, although either of those would have presented a security risk of its own.

I also don’t think he had to apologize, although it was nice of him to do so. As to the slap, she’ll survive. He could have given her a hundred of those little slaps on the wrist and she would probably have come away without so much as a bruise.

People are making too much of this; they’re too sensitive. Even the Pope was too sensitive towards the woman, and it was his hand that was grabbed. She’s not that fragile, she can take a little slap or two on the risk and still survive. It only has the appearance of rudeness, that’s all.

All in all, not a big deal; this will pass.
 
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About the only scuttlebutt I’ve heard 'round here is that this incident along with the “ring kissing” incident seem to portray the Pope in, shall we say, an odd light.
Not necessarily bad, nor good…just a little dumbfounded as for the most of us who’ve seen several popes in our life have not seen anything like this, so it is hard to compare it to a past event.
That and the more compassionate ones think his age and frailty caused him to have a natural reaction…sort of like when you accidentally burn your hand on the stove and unthinkingly react. Human condition of fight or flight when the body or mind Is suddenly activated to pain or threat.

Just a guy’s two cents though…

I respect my elders, even when I think they are wrong…and when it’s the Pope, I give him even a little more leeway.
 
I’ve been around the elderly in my family. Mostly 80+. One understands very quickly from a very young age just how fragile most of them are. They might be arthritic. Or have a shoulder impingement. Or poor balance. Or something. They are often fall risks. A fall can be very serious and life changing for an elderly person. Check them out at your local assisted living facility if you still need an objective lesson.

The Pope is not a flexible spring chicken with bendy arms and shoulders. The reality is that while he may have the best care available in Italy, he is still an old man. So one does not just do what that Asian woman did. Period. The potential was there to actually do harm through her overzealousness. She owes the Pope an apology. I would suggest the woman to her left likely owes an apology as well, but all she did was put the Pope’s hand in easy reach of the Asian woman so I won’t be as hard on her.
 
Zzyzx_Road said:
  • Asian lady reaches out with her right hand to grasp the Pope’s hand. She is clearly the one yanking the Pope. The lady to her left finds her own hand and arm at an angle at which she has no leverage to pull the Pope in the direction he was pulled. That is all on the Asian lady who then brings her left hand so she has the Pope’s hands in both of hers.
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Agreed, but also the first woman’s grip is strong enough to leave indentations in Francis’ forearm.
Thanks @Minks for spotting the first woman’s hand and tight grip (ie. indentations). You are correct, and AFAIK yours is a world first, for us here in CAF!

The video shared above by @Cathoholic is the best way to follow this closely and then clearly see the important role played by the first woman (in heavy clothes, to the left of the Asian woman).


Watch it in YouTube at half speed, using the Settings (Gear icon) on the controls for the video.

The large hand on Pope Francis at this point (in the freeze) is definitely the first woman’s. If you zoom it you can also see indentations in Francis’s flesh from two fingers of her squeezing tightly.

What is less clear is whether the first woman grabbed his arm and steered it to the Asian woman. It can appear that way, but after repeated viewings I think she was surprised by the Asian woman (see her shocked and angry face afterwards) and her “grip” may have been a reflex re-action to protect the Pope when she felt his arm being suddenly pulled by the Asian woman.

Still, I’ve heard that the Asian woman was imploring the Pope to “remember China”, or similar, so she’s not just doing this for herself. Quite sad.
 
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