From Catholic News Service:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Safety procedures worked perfectly and security personnel performed excellently the night Pope Benedict XVI was knocked down by the same woman who had attempted to get close to him a year before, a chief security officer said.Salvatore Festa, the prefect in charge of coordinating the work of several branches of Italian security who protect the pope, said despite careful security measures, "it's also clear that there are many other factors that come into play and many times these are random and unpredictable."He made his comments in an interview published Jan.7 in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano."That night everything worked perfectly, according to the usual standards" of security, he said.

David Gibson is the director of Fordham’s Center on Religion & Culture.

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