After Midnight Mass Papal Tackle, Should Barriers Go Up? Hint: This Is Italy

ROME -- As Christmas Eve Mass began in St. Peter's Basilica last night, an unidentified woman leapt over the security barrier, apparently in a wild attempt to embrace the Pope. Although the papal security guards intercepted her with a tackle that would do the NFL proud, the woman caught hold of the Pope's vestments and pulled Benedict down with her.

Then the 82-year-old pontiff went right back to work. After a moment or two on the ground, Pope Benedict got up, to cheers of "Viva il Papa!" and continued his procession down the aisle. The Mass was celebrated without interruption and the Pope's voice was clear and steady as he read the homily. Given that the Christmas Mass had been moved back to 10:00 p.m. to save the Benedict's energy, his stamina and sangfroid surprised many people.

Those attending papal Masses often describe their energy to that of a rock concert, even as multiple hours tick by while people pass through security and fill up the 13,000 available seats. Then, without a warm-up band or an emcee, all the lights suddenly go on and the cheering starts. Even normally staid and severe nuns jump on chairs and start snapping pictures. Throngs press against the barriers for a closer look and a few audacious parents thrust babies over the barriers towards the Holy Father. It's even somewhat understandable that one might lose one's head and try to "jump the stage" -- not so unlike the ecstatic groupies who climbed the rafters at Fenway Park for the 2005 concert of the nearly Benedict-age Rolling Stones.

Unlike the hapless Stones lover who broke two ankles and a wrist, Benedict's fan suffered no injuries and was taken away by the Gendarmeria, or Vatican police, who have identified her as Susanna Maiolo, a 25-year-old Swiss-Italian national with a history of mental problems. But things went considerably worse for poor 87-year-old Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, of Paris, who was knocked over along with the Pope, broke his femur and ended up with a wheelchair and plaster cast for Christmas.

Benedict's assailant, who sported a festive scarlet sweater for the occasion, which conveniently made her very easy to spot on hazy video recordings of the encounter, is a repeat offender according to a Vatican spokesman; last Christmas, he said, the same woman went running for the Pope at the end of Midnight Mass, but was stopped long before she could reach him.

Benedict is not the first Pope to have inspired such a reaction. The late Pope John Paul II also had his fair share of over-zealous admirers, including a religious sister in 2004 who went running down the aisle of St. Peter's before being brought up short by Vatican security right at the altar. (On the other hand, it was another devoted nun who successfully subdued Mehmet Ali Acga, the would-be assassin of John Paul II, after he shot the pope on May 13, 1981.)

Ironically, the Benedict breach took place the same day that the Pope received a letter from Italian Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi thanking him for his good wishes after a similar incident in which Berlusconi suffered a fractured nose and two broken teeth. Just two weeks ago, Berlusconi was attacked by a 42-year-old man, Massimo Tartaglia, who hurled an alabaster replica of Milan's Gothic cathedral into Berlusconi's face. Berlusconi's attacker also suffers from mental problems, according to authorities.

These two incidents have naturally provoked serious security concerns and a lively national debate about whether Italian and Vatican security should be tightened. Should visitors be subjected to more rigorous checks? This Rome-based Italian American doesn't think so. Italians love life more than most, and while physical well-being means as much to them as to anyone, this is a culture that values proximity -- to works of art, famous figures, and each other as we cram into our favorite cafés. This is the land of baci, not barriers, and neither fan nor foe will ever change that.