A 27-year-old German man described by the Vatican as ”clearly deranged” leaped over a barricade on Wednesday and tried to jump on to Pope Benedict’s open-topped jeep.
The man took the German pope’s bodyguards by surprise in St Peter’s Square, coming within a metre of the pontiff in an episode that brought back memories of the assassination attempt against his predecessor, Pope John Paul, in 1981.
Television pictures showed the man, wearing a baseball cap, jump out of the crowd and over a wooden barricade as the pope passed by to start his weekly audience for about 40 000 people.
Hurtling from the pope’s right, he tried to jump on the back of the moving ”popemobile” but managed only to touch it before being wrestled to the ground by Vatican security guards.
”He was clearly deranged but did not want to kill or harm the pope, he only wanted to draw attention to himself,” the spokesperson said.
After questioning by a Vatican judge the man, who was unarmed, was taken to a psychiatric institution in Italy for testing. His identity was not disclosed.
The man did not appear to be holding anything in his hands nor carrying any bag. Tourists and pilgrims entering St Peter’s Square go through airport-style metal detectors and have their bags checked by Italian police.
The pope, who was elected in 2005, was standing on the open jeep facing forward and looking at the crowd to his left and did not see the man trying to get on the vehicle.
The driver did not appear to know what was happening behind him since the speed of the vehicle did not increase.
The episode lasted about 15 seconds. John Paul was shot and nearly killed in the same square by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca on May 13 1981. — Reuters