Pope visits cardinal hurt
in Christmas Eve incident
ROME, Jan. 9 (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI paid a call Saturday on a hospitalized cardinal who broke a hip when a mentally disturbed woman knocked the Pontiff down in St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve.
Benedict embraced 87-year-old French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who wore a gray dressing gown during the early evening visit by the pontiff at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic.
The Vatican said the Pope and Etchegaray chatted cordially in French during the 30-minute visit, which hadn't been announced in advance.
"The Pope expressed his interest and spiritual closeness" to Etchegaray, whose recovery was going well following surgery shortly after the injury, the Vatican said.
Benedict was shaken but unhurt Dec. 24 when a young Italian-Swiss woman climbed over a barrier during his procession to the altar. The woman, who is being treated at a psychiatric clinic, grabbed at the Pope's vestments, bringing the 82-year-old Benedict to the ground. The cardinal fell during the commotion as security guards rushed to Benedict's aid.
Etchegaray is expected to be discharged next week, the Vatican said.
After he visited the cardinal, Benedict greeted patients, a brief Vatican statement said. Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was treated several times during his papacy at the Catholic teaching hospital.
Vatican magistrates are investigating the Christmas Eve breach of security, which raised concern over the Pope's protection while in public.
The photographs of the visit are particularly sweet - a beautiful illustration of the Holy Fahter's naturally joyful disposition, well reciproated by the cardinal in these photos.
Here is the text of the Vatican press communique on the Pope's visit to the cardinal, translated from the Italian:
This evening the Holy Father went to the Policlinico Gemelli to pay a visit to Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who has been hospitalized for a hip fracture sustained during the incident before the Christmas Eve Mass and a subsequent surgical operation.
The Pope was welcomed by Prof. Ornaghi, Rector Magnificus of the Catholic University, and by Prof. Catananti, driector of the Polyclinic.
The visit took place around 7 p.m. and lasted about half an hour. It was characterized by a very cordial conversation in French between the Pope and the cardinal.
The Pope expressed his solicitude and spiritual closeness, and was able to observe personally the favorable course of the convalescence and post-operative rehabilitation of the cardinal, whose clinical condition is excellent.
Though they were both seated for the conversation, at the end, the Cardinal walked the Pope to the door. He is expected to be discharged from the hospital by the middle of next week.
Before leaving, the Holy Father also greeted other patients.
Earlier yesterday, the Italian news agency ANSA reported that Susanna Maiolo, the Pope's aggressor on Christmas Eve, was to be released from her obligatory two-week confinement in the psychiatric ward of a hospital in Subiaco. She was expected to be brought home to Switzerland by an uncle.
Also related:
Bertone appears to rule out
Vatican clemency for Maiolo
ROME, Jan. 9 (Translated from AGI) - Benedict XVI reoresents "a universal moral authority who announces the Biblical message abd who is working for the common good and the peaceful coexistence of everyone".
This was affirmed by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone when asked by newsmen Saturday about the woman who attacked Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve.
Thus, the cardinal appeared to rule out an eventual act of clemency that would put an end to the penal proceeding under way in the Vatican before the investigation reaches a conclusion.
Bertone celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Office of the Vatican Governatorate to mark the start of the Vatican judicial year.
[A brief item in today's OR about the Mass and Bertone's statements - he was also asked about other things like a recent problem with the explotation of illegal immigrants in Calabria, southern Italy - says that Bertone declined to comment directly on the Maiolo case because it is still under investigation.]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/01/2010 18:33]