Pope Francis Slaps Pilgrim’s Hand After She Seizes Him
Richard Moorhead
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Pope Francis slapped the hand of a pilgrim during an event in St. Peter’s Square Tuesday after she forcefully grasped it and prevented the pontiff from moving.
A video of the surprising event showed a tourist grasping the Pope’s hand, jerking him towards her and preventing him from moving.
NOPE FROM THE POPE: While greeting people in St. Peter's Square on New Year's Eve, Pope Francis had to pull himself away from a woman who grabbed his hand and yanked him toward her. https://t.co/umkpOnbbX6 pic.twitter.com/0XzxtWTMUd
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 31, 2019
The woman was trying to tell the pope something, but it’s unclear what she was so acutely interested in telling him about.
The Pope’s reaction shows he wasn’t happy to be grabbed by a stranger. Despite being grabbed, he did briefly shake the hand of the woman, before slapping her hand sharply twice when she wouldn’t let go and let the 83-year old bishop proceed to a Vatican nativity scene.
It’s certainly not a good idea to treat any senior citizen roughly in such a manner, although some took offense at the pope’s reaction to the overzealous individual.
The Vatican has every right to enforce stringent security measures when some such as radical Islamists have plotted assassination plots on various popes. But the papacy should probably reconsider institutional Catholic support for gun control when the Vatican guard utilizes an extensive arsenal of weapons to protect the lives of the pope and various high-ranking Catholic bishops.
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