Benedict XVI and the faithful:
Undaunted by St. Peter's incident -
and rightly so
by Luigi Accattoli
Translated from
Dec. 28, 2009
I know at least three quotations pertinent to the Pope's fall on Christmas Eve in St, Peter's - and the most appropriate was from John Paul II: "No place is more dangerous than St. Peter's Square".
He said this in reply to a French cardinal who thought it might not be advisable for him to visit Lyons in 1986, after much chatter about a Nostradamus prophecy that such a trip would be 'unfortunate'.
Benedict XVI could update his predecessor's statement by adding St. Peter's Basilica to St. Peter's Square.
The second quotation has to do with the 'mission impossible' of Vatican security.
"Either a Pope defends himself on his own, or no one can defend him", said Cardinal Dino Monduzzi, then Papa Wojtyla's Prefect of the Pontifical Household, speaking of the Turkish would-be assassin Ali Agca.
Obviously, as long as the Pope ventures into the world, it will not be possible to prevent a madman or someone with bad intentions from targeting him sooner or later.
The third quotation comes from the former Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls, who states the obvious limitation of the 'papal self-defense' advocated by Cardinal Monduzzi.
[Besides the fact that self-defense does not come with the Pope's job description, and in any case, no one expects any man older than 70 to defend himself as if he were a judo blackbelter like Vladimir Putin!]
"The Pope cannot be invisible", Navarro Valls says. I heard him say that to those who lamented the public exposure of Papa Wojtyla in the final years, especially when he was already suffering visibly from the signs of Parkinson's disease.
For 76 years now, the Popes have left the Vatican to go forth among the people, placing themselves at risk, but also the crowds among which they find themselves.
Pius XII was the first to do so, with his wartime visits to the Roman neighborhoods of San Giovanni and San Lorenzo after the Allied bombardments in June and August of 1943.
And it is beautifully fitting that the most reclusive of the 20th century Popes was the first to meet the people - in his case, to show solidarity with Roma's residents who were terrorized by the bombardments.
[Rome was supposed to be an 'open city' during the war, not to be subjected to air raids and artillery because of the unique historical and cultural value of its monuments, buildings and works of art.]
John XXIII substantially increased the papal visits within Rome and Italy. Paul VI extended them to the five continents, and John Paul II with his globetrotting made every country his own.
Benedict XVI inherited their desire to get close to the faithful. With the Popes Pacelli, Roncalli, Montini, Luciani, Wojtyla and Ratzinger, the Roman Pontificate broke centuries-old papal tradition to revert to the original adventure of 'missione ad gentes' which is also an encounter with the world.
The assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981 and every other risk taken by the Bishops of Rome in the past decades are part of that encounter.
The attempt against John Paul II created the sensation of constant potential danger every time the Pope leaves the Apostolic Palace, a danger that is theoretically known to all.
Paul VI was almost crushed by a crowd in Jerusalem in 1964, and lightly injured when a Bolivian painter dressed as a priest rushed to stab him after he had stepped off the airplane in Manila in 1970 [the man was fortunately stopped in time].
But no one had imagined that any such attempt would take place in St. Peter's Square itself. The blood shed by John Paul that day served to immensely magnify the vigilance around the Pope, and the media became more interested in his movements outside the Vatican because of the potential danger.
Thew new vigilance was immediately apparent on October 4, 1981, when John Paul II first returned to St. Peter's Square after the May attempt on his life: The entire perimeter demarcated by the Bernini colonnades was barricaded. Each one entering that perimeter had to go through a metal detector and frisking.
But Papa Wojtyla and his successor have not held themselves away from the crowds.
One result of the fear syndrome was the Popemobile with its bulletproof glass and chassis, which has been in use since 1981 in various configurations.
Giani Baget Bozzo once wrote that the Popemobile was the new
sedia gestatoria.
[the portable papal throne last used by John XXII - it is borne on the shoulders of selected attendants so they can hold the Pope above the heads of the crowd and enable everyone to have a good view of him.
After the Christmas Eve incident in the Basilica, Benedict XVI will be forced to use the enclosed Popemobile more frequently, as John Paul II did in the years following Agca's attempt.
It will be good that he does so, and that every form of prevention be taken by those responsible for his security.
But it is also good and right that Benedict XVI continues to go forth among the faithful. Up till now, we have been fortunate that only 'simple folk' have tried to accost his person in unusual ways: On July 9, 2006, in Valencia; on September 12, 2006 in Regensburg; and on June 6, 2007, in St. Peter's Square.
[And of course, Susana Maiolo's two consecutive Christmas Eve 'attacks' in St. Peter's]
[I am familiar with the June 2007 incident involving the German man who tried to jump the Popemobile, But I don't think I ever read about the incident in Valencia or in Regensburg, on the very day yet that he gave his earth-shaking lecture!]
So it was with pleasure that I watched Papa Ratzinger on Sunday among the crowd during his visit to the Sant'Egidio soup kitchen.
Holiness, go on doing so: our frightened world today needs your example of serenity in relating to others.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 29/12/2009 21:03]