Pope thanks guards for keeping him, Vatican safe

(AP) — Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday thanked the Carabinieri police who maintain Vatican security for their "humble yet indispensable work."

The pontiff met with the Carabinieri's Vatican corps during its traditional annual audience, two weeks after a woman with psychiatric problems breached a security barrier in St. Peter's Basilica and pulled the pope to the floor.

Benedict didn't mention the Christmas Eve incident. But he referred to the Christmas holidays, saying they "allowed so many people to appreciate the humble yet indispensable work" that security guards perform in protecting Vatican visitors.

Benedict wasn't hurt in the knockdown and his personal bodyguard — who stands closest to the pope — tackled the woman. She is undergoing treatment at a clinic outside Rome.

In an interview with the Vatican newspaper published Thursday, security official Salvatore Festa said that "everything worked perfectly that night."

Festa told L'Osservatore Romano that the faithful entering the basilica had been carefully checked and that the pope's security detail intervened promptly. Festa is a prefect whose job is to ensure coordination between the Italian and Vatican officials working to protect the pope.

However, the incident has raised concerns about the pope's security, especially since it was the second time the same woman had jumped the barrier at a Christmas Eve Mass. In 2008, she failed to reach the pope.

The Vatican said that it would review security procedures.

New measures evident this week included widening St. Peter's basilica's main aisle, where the pope walks flanked by rows of faithful behind barriers. The barriers were pushed back, giving the pope's security detail more space to maneuver and putting him at a greater distance from the faithful.

Since the Christmas Eve attack, the pope has kept up his habit of greeting the faithful at ceremonies, touching the outstretched hands of some of them and occasionally kissing babies.