The Pope conducts his Christmas Mass despite being briefly knocked over by a spectator who jumped the barriers and my midnight mass was lovely and went off without a hitch
Midnight mass at our towns Anglican Church was absolutely wonderful and thankfully less eventful than the Pope’s by the sound of it:-
Woman knocks Pope down at Christmas Mass
The woman – who is said to be mentally unstable – jumped the security barriers as Benedict XVI entered the basilica, causing the pontiff to fall.
The Pope appeared to be unhurt and recovered to lead the Mass.
The midnight service started two hours early because officials do not want the 82-year-old pontiff to get tired.
Thousands of pilgrims also gathered in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas Mass.
Latin Patriarch Foud Twal, the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, said the region’s aspiration of peace remained out of reach.
“The wish that we most want, we most hope for, is not coming,” he said after passing into Bethlehem in a traditional holiday procession from nearby Jerusalem.
“We want peace.”
Woman arrested
The security incident involving the woman at St Peter’s Basilica lasted only a few seconds.
The woman – who was reportedly wearing a red jumper – tried to jump the barrier and the Pope was thrown off balance and fell, prompting shocked gasps among the crowd.
Security officials rushed down the main aisle to detain the woman.
The Pope had to be helped up by the master of ceremonies at his side, the BBC’s David Willey in Rome says.
However, he quickly recovered his poise and passed into the basilica preceded by senior Vatican cardinals, our correspondent says.
Benedict then delivered the Christmas homily in a firm voice. The theme was selfishness which, he said, “makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires”.
The woman who pushed the Pope also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was taken to hospital for a check-up, Vatican spokesman Ciro Bedettini said.
The woman – whose name was not immediately known – was later arrested by police.
During last year’s Mass, a woman also jumped the barriers and got close to the Pope but was quickly restrained by security officials.
It was not immediately known if it was the same woman who pushed Benedict on Thursday.
The Vatican said earlier that the decision to move the midnight Mass to 2200 (2100 GMT) was “to make Christmas a little less tiring for the Pope, who has many engagements”.
The pontiff earlier appeared briefly at nightfall at the window of his studio to light a candle in a sign of peace.
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