Woman attacks Pope

A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass on Thursday, amateur video obtained by AP Television from pilgrims at the mass showed.
The 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Ciro Benedettini.
A Texas family of worshippers who was on a trip to Rome with their two children filmed the incident as they were standing in the front rows to catch a glimpse of the Pope.
Marybeth and Steve Burns each used their amateur video equipment to film the event.
"All of a sudden this person sort of flew over the barricade and the holy father went down and all of a sudden all the security people were all on top of it, you know the whole pile there, getting her off and pulling him back up," MaryBeth Burns told AP Television outside St Peter's Basilica.
The commotion occurred as the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rang out through the public that packed the basilica.
The procession came to a halt and security rushed to the trouble spot.
Benedettini said the woman who pushed the pope appeared to be mentally unstable and had been arrested by Vatican police.
He said she also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was taken to hospital for a check up.
After the incident, Benedict, flanked by tense bodyguards, resumed his walk to the basilica's main altar to start the Mass.
He did appear somewhat shaken and leaned heavily on aides and an armrest as he sat down in his chair.
Benedict made no reference to the incident as the service started.
It was the second year in a row there was a security breach at the service. At the end of last year's Mass a woman who had jumped the barriers got close to the pope but was quickly wrestled to the ground by security.
The Pope held the traditional midnight mass two hours earlier than usual, at 10pm (2100GMT) in order to spare him a late night at the start of one of the busiest periods of the liturgical calendar, also known as the Christian year.