Susanna Maiolo

Susanna Maiolo (born 1984) is a woman with Italian and Swiss citizenship who rushed towards Pope Benedict XVI twice. The first attack in December 2008 was intercepted successfully by the Pope's bodyguards. Then, on Christmas Eve, 24 December 2009, during the Entrance Procession to the Midnight Mass, inside St. Peter's Basilica, she knocked the Pope and French cardinal Roger Etchegaray to the floor, breaking the cardinal's leg and hip, and leaving the Pope uninjured.

Maiolo was born in Frauenfeld, Switzerland. Authorities said that Maiolo is mentally unwell and she was held for a week's evaluation at a psychiatric hostel in Subiaco near Rome.[1][2] It was reported that she did not want to injure the Pope, and the Pope has forgiven her.[3][4][5]

Reactions

Maiolo told the Subiaco clinic staff that she did not want to injure the Pope but wanted to ask him to help the poorest people in the world.[4] The Pope's personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, visited her at the clinic on 1 January 2010. He expressed the Pope's concern for her and said the Pope believed in her good intentions and had pardoned her.[6] The Vatican public prosecutor Nicola Picardi and spokesman Federico Lombardi said that she would probably be released.[4]

Maiolo and two of her family had a brief private audience with Pope Benedict after the morning general audience on 13 January 2010 in a room adjoining the Paul VI Audience Hall. Maiolo told the Pope she regretted the incident. He forgave her and expressed his best wishes for her and her health.

References

  1. ↑ Pope OK after woman knocks him down at Mass
  2. ↑ WINFIELD, NICOLE (25 December 2009). "Pope fine for Christmas blessing after fall". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  3. ↑ Goldsmith, Samuel (25 December 2009). "Pope Benedict forgives Susanna Maiolo one day after she knocked him down during Christmas Eve Mass". Daily News. New York.
  4. 1 2 3 Útočnice prý chtěla papeže jen prosit o pomoc pro nejchudší, December 28, 2009, České noviny, ČTK
  5. ↑ Susanna Maiolo, sette giorni di cure obbligate in isolamento : La donna che ha spinto il Papa era stata ricoverata 18 mesi in una struttura di Frauenfeld, in Svizzera, Corriere della Sera, December 26, 2009
  6. ↑ Pope's secretary visits woman who floored pontiff, Reuters, editing by Tim Pearce, Jan 3, 2010
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