Vatican is reviewing procedures to protect pope

ROME — Stung by the televised knockdown of Pope Benedict XVI at Christmas Eve Mass — by a woman who had sought to assault him a year ago — the Vatican said Friday it would review security procedures, raising the possibility of more stringent public access to the pope, leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

Benedict, 82, was unhurt. He quickly recovered and celebrated Mass, and looked well hours later as he delivered his traditional Christmas Day greeting from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica on Friday. A French cardinal caught in the scuffle suffered a fractured thighbone.

The assailant, identified by the Vatican as Susanna Maiolo, a 25-year-old Swiss-Italian national with a history of mental problems, was held for questioning and hospitalized in Rome. She was not under formal arrest and it was unclear whether she would face charges. Yet the assault on the pope, captured on television and tourist cameras and replayed countless times on TV and the Internet, raised serious questions about Vatican — and Italian — security. It was the first direct attack on Benedict since he became pope in 2005, and it came less than two weeks after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized after a mentally unstable man struck him in the face at a campaign rally.

The televised footage of the papal assault also underscored the pope's vulnerability in the midst of throngs of people, and brought to mind the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981 by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish gunman, in St. Peter's Square. Coincidentally, Agca is to be released from a Turkish prison next month.

Papal security is provided by the Vatican gendarmes, a private police force; the Swiss Guards, who are more akin to an army; and Italian law enforcement. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that in response to the attack, "I think the Vatican gendarmes, the Swiss Guards and the other officials will do their reflections."

In a statement, the Vatican said Maiolo was not armed. But compounding the security questions, the Vatican said Maiolo had tried the same thing last year, only to be stopped by security before she could do harm. She had traveled to Rome from Switzerland, the ANSA news agency reported.

To attend Mass at St. Peter's Basilica visitors must request tickets in advance, but they are not personalized, and the Vatican does not check identification. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, it did, however, begin sending Mass participants through metal detectors.

Lombardi said that he did not anticipate major changes in protocol — or the possibility of "zero risk" — since the Vatican is generally opposed to measures that segregate the pontiff from his flock.

Nonetheless, the review of how the pope's protectors do their job in such circumstances suggested that Vatican security officials could tighten public access to him.