Pope's secretary visits Christmas Eve assailant

(January 4, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI's personal secretary has visited the woman who knocked the pontiff to the ground at the start of Christmas Eve Mass, the Pope’s spokesman said on Sunday. Jesuit priest Fr. Federico Lombardi said the Pope's secretary Fr. Georg Gaenswein paid a visit to Susana Maiolo, who has a history of mental problems and is being held in a psychiatric unit outside Rome. The 25-year old woman leapt over a security barrier and bundled the Pope to the ground as he was leading a procession at the start of the Christmas Eve night mass in Saint Peter's Basilica. The pope, unhurt and unfazed, led the service as planned, but 87-year-old French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was also knocked over, suffered a broken hip. "Over the last few days, in a confidential way, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein paid a visit to Miss Maiolo to show the Holy Father's interest in her situation," Fr. Lombardi said in a statement. He did not want to comment on what was said at the meeting but added: "Every Christian pardons." Maiolo, who has Swiss and Italian nationality, is under investigation by a Vatican court, and the Vatican spokesman said this process would be allowed to run its normal course. Maiolo had made a similar attempt to get close to the pontiff at midnight mass in 2008.