[Infowarrior] - Vatican admits what we don't about security

[Richard Forno]

It's nice to see SOMEONE coming out and saying that enacting Total  
Security is a fantasy.   Unfortunately, here in the USA we say the  
same thing, but our practices indicate our belief is to the  
otherwise...we keep trying to 'raise the bar' in our quest to reach  
Total Security.  --rf


Vatican admits pontiff vulnerable

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8430621.stm
The Vatican has said it is impossible to protect the Pope from  
incidents like that on Thursday night, when a woman grabbed him at  
Christmas Eve Mass.

Spokesman Frederico Lombardi said the Pope was regularly surrounded by  
tens of thousands of people at audiences, Masses, greetings and other  
events.

He said it was unthinkable to create a wall between the Pope and the  
faithful.

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, himself recently attacked in public,  
warned of "hatred and extremism".

The Pope was not injured when Susanna Maiolo, 25, hurled herself at  
him in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican but an elderly French  
cardinal standing nearby, Roger Etchegaray, suffered a broken hip.

The woman, who tried to throw herself at Benedict at the same  
Christmas Eve service one year ago, is now receiving psychiatric  
treatment and Mr Lombardi said he thought she would be dealt with very  
leniently by the Vatican.

'No hurt intended'

Father Lombardi said it was not realistic to think the Vatican could  
ensure 100% security for the Pope and that security guards appeared to  
have acted as quickly as possible.


ANALYSIS
David Willey, BBC News, Rome
The problem of providing effective security for the head of the Roman  
Catholic Church without cutting him off from his flock is a difficult  
challenge for his Vatican team of security advisers.

The Pope uses a specially built armoured vehicle covered with  
bulletproof glass - the popemobile - at open-air audiences in St  
Peter's Square when the weather is fine and when he goes on tour abroad.

But when he is moving about inside his own sovereign territory,  
Vatican City State, he walks or travels in a normal limousine.

"It seems that they intervened at the earliest possible moment in a  
situation in which zero risk cannot be achieved," he told the  
Associated Press news agency.

"People want to see him up close and he's pleased to see them closely  
too. A zero risk doesn't seem realistic in a situation in which  
there's a direct rapport with the people."

Vatican security officials would, the spokesman added, nonetheless  
review the episode and "try to learn from experience".

Mr Berlusconi, who is recovering from a violent attack in Milan  
earlier in the month, spoke to Italian TV after the attack on the Pope.

"We must really fight back against all these manufacturers of lies,  
extremism and hatred," he said.

It is still unclear what had motivated Ms Maiolo, who holds dual Swiss  
and Italian nationality.      	     	

She told doctors she had not wanted to hurt the pontiff, Italy's La  
Repubblica newspaper said in a report on its online edition.

The same paper quoted Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa  
and head of the Italian bishops' conference, as saying: "Nothing  
serious happened. It was a woman who tried to greet the Holy Father."


However, French Cardinal Paul Poupard, who was with the pontiff at the  
time of the incident, said it had been "definitely a threat to the  
Pope".

"With hindsight, you would say greater vigilance was needed, so those  
in charge of security should not let their guard drop even for a  
second," he added.

The Pope is protected by a combination of Swiss Guards, Vatican police  
and Italian police.

The most serious attack on a Pope in modern times was that on  
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, who was shot and seriously  
wounded by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca in 1981 as he rode in an  
open jeep in the Vatican .

Full schedule

Pope Benedict delivered his traditional Christmas message at the  
Vatican on Friday, appearing undaunted by the earlier incident.

As he emerged on to the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square, some  
observers said the Pope seemed unsteady on his feet, but he did not  
waver.

The German-born pontiff made no mention of the previous evening's  
incident during his Christmas Day message and prayers.

In his sermon to the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, the Pope  
focused on the needy and praised the work of the Church in places like  
the Philippines, Korea and Sri Lanka.

Benedict has made it known he intends to carry out in full his  
schedule of engagements during the remainder of the Christmas and New  
Year holidays:

• He will appear at his study window overlooking St Peter's square to  
give his Angelus blessing to pilgrims at midday on Saturday

• After a repeat blessing on Sunday, he will attend a lunch with  
homeless people at a canteen run by a Catholic community in  
Trastevere, about 2km from the Vatican

• Next week, he will hold his customary Wednesday general audience  
inside the Vatican and on Thursday he will take part in a solemn end- 
of-year religious ceremony inside St Peter's

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8430621.stm

Published: 2009/12/25 23:00:41 GMT

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