There has now been a second attempt to get at a Pope, according to CBS/AP:
A man tried to jump into Pope Benedict XVI’s uncovered popemobile as the pontiff began his general audience Wednesday and held onto it for a few seconds before being wrestled to the ground by security officers.
The Pope was not hurt in any way and continued to hold the audience as if nothing happened, reports CBS News correspondent Sabina Castelfranco.
At least eight security officers who were trailing the vehicle as it moved slowly through the square grabbed the man and wrestled him to the ground. The pope didn’t even look back.
The man “looked a little crazy,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman. He said the man was being held for questioning by Vatican police.
The man, a 27-year-old German whose name was not released, was wearing a pink T-shirt and dark shorts, a beige baseball cap and sunglasses. He appeared to have vaulted himself up and over the barricade from the second or third row back. He got as far as the back of the jeep, holding onto it for a few seconds, before being wrestled to the ground.
This undescores a fact of 20th century and 21st century life: celebrated persons — politicos, religious leaders, even rock stars — are constantly at risk when they appear in public. Heavy security around them may be bothersome — but it’s definitely necessary.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.