Pope attacked at Christmas Eve mass

They really need to ramp up security in Italy. First the prime minister gets attacked—now the pope. It’s hard to think of a high-ranking mortal that could be the target of some crazed crowdmember. From the NYT:

An “unbalanced 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, a Vatican spokesman said Thursday.

But the pope quickly got back on his feet and celebrated Mass before thousands of the faithful, urging them in his homily to become “truly vigilant people.”

Television images showed a woman in red leap toward Benedict, 82, as he began to walk up the central aisle, as the police and bodyguards scrambled to his aid.

So much for silent night.