Word: pontiff
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After the dramatic Christmas Eve mass knockdown of Pope Benedict XVI, authorities are reporting that the 25-year-old woman who jumped a St. Peter's Basilica security barrier meant the pontiff no harm. That Benedict was indeed unscathed, and delivered the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" message "to the city and the world" from the loggia overlooking Saint Peter's Square, was the good news for Christmas Day. But even if Susanna Maiolo, a Swiss-Italian national with a history of psychological problems, only wanted to share her holiday wishes with the Pope, tough questions remain for those responsible...
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Benedict cannot carry out his mission if he is shielded from his faithful in a "zero risk" protection scheme. Still, even in praising the quick reaction of the pontiff's personal security detail, Lombardi told The Associated Press officials will nonetheless review the episode and "try to learn from experience...
...supreme Vicar of Christ who brings to them the definitive word of salvation. He is meant, in other words, to evoke strong feelings of personal attachment. "You can't shield him 100%," said spokesman Lombardi. "Doing so would create a dividing wall between the pontiff and his faithful, something that is unthinkable...
...mass worldwide exposure and the close contact between the Roman Pontiff and his faithful is actually a modern phenomenon, largely put into motion by Paul VI, and multiplied by John Paul II. Both those popes were lucky to survive brazen assassination attempts: a mentally unstable man lunged at Paul with a knife just after his 1970 arrival at the Manila airport; while John Paul was shot and seriously wounded in 1981 by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca...
...book, certain Benedict decisions must be mined for personal motivations. Joseph Ratzinger was a devout 12-year-old in the heavily Catholic region of Bavaria when Eugenio Pacelli became Pope in 1939. Through his early years as priest and theologian, Ratzinger remained devoted to Pius until the pontiff's death in 1958. A Vatican insider once described Benedict's memory to this particular predecessor this way: "Pius is really his Pope." (See how Pius XII was perceived during his lifetime, from TIME's archives...