Christmas is a very important time for everyone, especially for Christians and Roman Catholics. So they celebrate it in their own ways. Roman Catholics celebrate with mass on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day. In Rome, they have the Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with the presence of the pope, Pope Benedict XVI.
This Christmas Eve Mass this year was interrupted by a woman in red who knocked down the Pope. She jumped through the barriers separating the public from those hosting the mass and knocked him down as he was going to the altar. After the incident happened, he delivered his speech without being distracted by what happened, and told the world to wake up from their selfishness and spend more time with God. His message was heard around the world and Non-Catholics and Catholics alike around the world were inspired by it.
The pope is already 82 years old, and it is a good thing that he was not hurt by the fall. The woman who knocked him over was dressed in red and had a hooded sweat shirt. She grabbed his vestments and the pope seemed to fall on top of her after being knocked down. She was promptly taken away by the pope’s bodyguards and sent away.
It all happened as the pope was leading a procession to the main altar and it stopped when he was knocked over. The woman is thought to be mentally unstable, and she also happened to knock down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray who was taken to the hospital for a check-up but is now fine. A video of the incident can be viewed online and it was taken by a bystander nearby the pope when it happened, so everyone can see what happened. See video excerpt below.
Despite the problems, the mass proceeded as it was planned and everyone was able to hear the pope’s message. No one was seriously hurt in the incident and everyone had a merry Christmas Eve. There were many pilgrims who traveled to the Vatican just to witness the mass and spend time in Rome, and they were able to spend Christmas happily.
(via AP)
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