Extra security for pope's appearance

The pope greeted the faithful in St Peter’s Basilica amid new security measures today following the Christmas Eve scare.

He celebrated Mass to mark Epiphany, the January 6 holy day commonly referred to as the feast of the Three Kings, or Magi, during the last main public ceremony of the Vatican’s holiday season.

As the pope, wearing gold coloured vestments, a long, lacy cassock and red shoes, made his way to the main altar, he strode up a central aisle widened as part of heightened security precautions that were put in place after a woman scrambled over a barrier during his entrance procession on the night of December 24, when the basilica was packed with thousands of people for Christmas Eve Mass.

The woman, who lived in Switzerland and has a history of psychological problems, grabbed the pope’s vestments, pulling him down to the marble floor in that incident. The 82-year-old pope was shaken but unhurt, while an elderly French cardinal, who fell during the commotion, broke his hip.

The woman is being treated at a psychiatric clinic near Rome while the Vatican investigates.

Following the security breach, the basilica’s main aisle was widened by pushing back the red-curtained barriers that separates the passage from the rows of faithful . The measure gives pope’s security detail more space to manoeuvre and puts him at a greater distance from the public.

The pope seemed determined to give his flock the message that despite security worries, he intends to keep in physical contact with the faithful.

Arriving and leaving the basilica, the pope moved to the left and right of the aisle to shake some of the many hands stretching out to him. At one point he patted a baby on the head, then kissed the infant, before kissing the hand of the woman holding the child out to him.

He smiled broadly as he moved his hand in blessing or waved to the public.

In his homily, the pope blamed lack of “authentic humility” and “courage” for what he said was a shortage of faith.

After the Mass, as he greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square from his studio window, offering good wishes for those in Eastern rite Churches celebrating Christmas on January 7. He described the three kings as “models for authentic searchers of the truth.”

Thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans, including many children, turned out to cheer the pope as they strolled the cobblestone square, made festive by a towering Christmas tree and a life-sized crèche.