Susanna Maiolo, who jumped over the barricade toward the Pope on Christmas Eve, was not a complete unknown. She had done exactly the same thing a year earlier, on the same Christmas day. She was even dressed the same way: in a bright red sweater! Her name should have been on a “watch list.” Why didn’t Vatican gendarmes recognize her when she came through the security gates at St. Peter’s basilica? Why did no alert guard pick her out in the congregation, edging toward the barrier as the procession began? Would it be too much to ask that next Christmas Eve, Vatican security officials should know what Susanna Maiolo is doing? (…)
One is reminded of the answer Blessed John XXIII gave, when he was asked how many people work at the Vatican: “about half of them.”
