Attacking A Pope

As to the big item in the news.... The recent attack on Pope Benedict by a crazed woman is stirring both the faithful and unfaithful to question why and whether it is just "a sign of the times" that even sacred public figures like a pope are in danger. Well, in short, assaulting a pope is nothing new. Read any history of the papacy and you'll see periods of intense anger toward the pope, physical attacks on him (there was one female pope but she was never attacked) were even more common than in this generation.

In fact, the early popes were so hated in Rome that they feared appearing in public. Often they were pelted with curses and vegetables tossed by the masses who resented the power of, abuse of power by them, and their general indifference toward the common people of Rome. And of course, being such a political power with one of the best armies in Europe the papacy often was under assault from secular rulers, something that hasn't happened in modern times nor is likely to any time in the future.

So, NO, the pope is no less safe today from assault than he was before. The problem of providing an effective security for the head of the Roman Catholic Church that doesn't cut cut him off from his flock is a difficult challenge for his Vatican team of security advisers. The Pope uses an armored vehicle covered with bulletproof glass, the aptly named Pope mobile, in St. Peter's Square when the weather is fine and when he goes on tour abroad. But when he is moving about inside Vatican City, he walks or travels in a normal limousine that is susceptible to attacks, such as happened to Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II who was shot in the early 80's in the Vatican Square as he rode in the Pope mobile.

People want to see the pope close at hand. A zero risk with increased security and physical barriers doesn't seem realistic in a situation in which there's will be direct rapport between a pope and the flock. So what is to be done to protect the pope from the crazies or the malicious? Not much more than is already being done, because to shield the pope too much is to break the rapport he must have to be effective as the leader of the church.

In a sense, it would turn the papacy into a figure of royalty rather than an equal member of the faith.Attacks on the pope have been common, yet they have been non political in nature most of the time. The question is what would be the reaction if a radical member of another faith were to assault and kill a pope? That's a far different scenario than what happened to Benedict. But in this age of extremism in politics and cultures it could happen