Aide visits woman who knocked down Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict XVI’s personal aide has visited the mentally disturbed young woman who jumped over a barrier and knocked the pontiff down in St Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, a Vatican spokesman said today.

Benedict asked his secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, to pay a call on 25-year-old Susanna Maiolo “to show his interest and benevolence”, the Reverend Federico Lombardi said.