羅馬教皇平安夜不平安 主持彌撒被撞倒
An "apparently unbalanced" woman approached Pope Benedict XVI and caused him to fall Thursday as he entered St Peter's Basilica to celebrate Christmas Eve mass, the Vatican spokesman said.
The pilgrim got past a security barricade by the central aisle of the vast basilica as the pope began leading the traditional procession to the altar, Father Federico Lombardi told reporters.
The woman is in the custody of the Vatican police, the ANSA news agency reported, adding that she apparently meant no harm.
The 82-year-old pontiff quickly recovered and went on to conduct the mass without assistance, but the incident marred the pontiff's fifth celebration of the event commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.
However, French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray fell ill in the crush and was given first aid, Lombardi said.
Benedict, in gold and white vestments and mitre, showed no discomfort as he read out his Christmas Eve homily, decrying selfishness, which he said "makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another.
"Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world," the spiritual leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics said in Italian.
Benedict has had no notable health problems since his 2005 election apart from a fractured wrist from a fall in July while holidaying in northern Italy.
Four years before he became pope however, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger spent nearly a month in hospital following a brain haemorrhage, according to the German daily Bild. It said he has suffered from fainting spells.
Thursday's incident occurred amid concern over the pope's health prompted by a Vatican decision to schedule the mass two hours early this year instead of the traditional midnight hour due to the pontiff's advanced age.
梵蒂岡官方一名發言人稱，本週四平安夜當晚，當羅馬教皇本篤十六世走進聖彼得大教堂準備主持平安夜彌撒時，一名“貌似情緒不穩”的女信徒將其撞倒。
費德里科•隆巴迪神父在接受記者採訪時說，當時教皇正按慣例帶領神甫們走向聖壇，此時一名信徒越過大教堂中央長廊兩側的護欄，當即將他撞倒。
安莎通訊社報道稱，肇事女信徒已被梵蒂岡警方拘捕，並稱她其實並無惡意。
被撞倒後，82歲的教皇很快恢復了常態，並一人堅持主持完了當晚的彌撒。但這多少影響了教皇第五次主持紀念耶穌降生的平安夜彌撒。
但據隆巴迪神父介紹，法國主教羅傑•艾切卡雷在混亂中受傷，並被急救。
身穿金白色法衣，頭戴主教法冠的本尼迪克特教皇在宣讀平安夜佈道文時並未顯出不適。他在佈道時譴責了自私自利的行爲，並稱其“使我們成爲利益與貪念的囚徒，這些私利與貪念有悖於真理，讓我們彼此疏遠”。
這位全球11億天主教徒的精神領袖用意大利語說道：“世界上的衝突和和解的缺乏源於我們爲私利、私念以及狹隘的自我世界所困。”
自從2005年被選爲教皇后，本篤十六世沒有出現過嚴重的健康問題，只是今年7月在意大利北部度假時跌斷手腕。
但據德國日報《圖片報》報道，在即位教皇的四年前，約瑟夫•拉辛格（本尼迪克特原名）主教曾因腦出血住院近一個月。該報稱教皇患有眩暈症。
由於教皇年事已高，今年梵蒂岡決定將傳統的平安夜彌撒在午夜前兩個小時開始，這引發了人們對教皇健康狀況的擔憂，而週四的事件正發生在這一當口。
Vocabulary:
mass: the celebration of the Eucharist（<尤指羅馬天主教的>彌撒）
basilica：a Christian church building of a similar design, having a nave with a semicircular apse, two or four side aisles, a narthex, and a clerestory（大教堂，長方形基督教堂）
altar：an elevated place or structure before which religious ceremonies may be enacted or upon which sacrifices may be offered（基督教教堂內的聖壇）
pontiff：any pontifex（羅馬教皇，主教）
mar：to damage or spoil to a certain extent; render less perfect, attractive, useful, etc.; impair or spoil（弄壞，毀壞）
first aid：emergency aid or treatment given to someone injured, suddenly ill, etc.（對傷者的急救）
vestment：an official or ceremonial robe（制服，法衣）
mitre：the official headdress of a bishop in the Western Church（主教法冠）
homily：a sermon, usually on a Biblical topic and usually of a nondoctrinal nature（佈道，說教）
