Grumpy Pope

If you look at the clip not just a photograph,he tried to take his
hand from her grip but she wouldn’t let go, he didn’t hit her he smacked her hand for her to release her grip.

That is true Anniebach. I know he has to be selective but I still think he over reacted.

It would not be possible for him to touch every hand in a crowd

I agree with BradfordLass 72
I have watched the clip again and it looks worse every time.

Not only did he angrily snatch his hand away, but he gave the woman a slap for good measure!

The purpose of the walkabout was to interact with people and probably most of them would want to take his hand.

If you watch her reactions before and after the incident, she bears him no malice. All you see on her face is hope, love and sorrow.

She was hoping for a blessing (for what terrible troubles we know not) and reached out in desperation as he turned away - just as the woman did to Jesus. Luke 8:43-48

Yes, he's an old man but does regular walkabouts and supposedly he's lived a life of caring and compassion.
His instincts should not have been to react with violence but love.

In fact his first homily of the year was how despicable it is to use violent against women.

The picture of this poor lady is as he turns away from her, still without her blessing.

I didn't "baa"
I felt bad

Oh I did yelp at the time and gave the already frigtened (from nearly falling) person a fright, and felt baa about that.

But it is instinct to "fight" being pulled over or pulled down.

They do get desperate people more desperate for his "blessing" and the whole way they hype up the crowd with loud speakers... he isnt blameless if people get hurt in the throng, it just happened to be him this time not some other frail person!

notanan I am still recovering from a shoulder injury, if someone did that to me they might wish they hadn't.
My left arm is not as useless.

Calendargirl you must be a lot younger than me because I can remember a kidnap attempt on Princess Anne; it wasn't that long ago comparatively speaking. It was 1974 and she was returning from a charity event with then husband Mark Phillips.

The man pulled up in front of their car, leapt out and brandished two guns at Princess Anne telling her she had to go with him. Apparently she said 'Not bloody likely' and refused to get out of the car, her bodyguard was shot and three others who tried to help her got injured too. Mark Phillips was hanging on to her and the gunman was trying to pull her out of the car.
She collapsed in a heap on the floor of the car, opened the other door and somersaulted out.
"I wasn't going anywhere, put it that way!" she said afterwards

The police arrived and arrested him as he tried to run away.

I don't blame the Pope at all, he just looked as if he was trying to disentangle himself. Who knows whether or not she had a knife?

His "true colours", firecracker, are that he is not a perfect specimen dropped into the world by God for mere mortals to revere, but a fallible human being with the capacity to feel pain and fear, and react to them - and then to apologise for his instinctive reaction to the attack.

I think I prefer that to a flawless automaton.

I think he reacted this way because she'd hurt him

His initial expression looked to be like someone in pain

I have a shoulder injury that never healed from someone grabbing me like that. It wasnt their fault: they had tripped and instinctively grabbed me, but I yelled embarrasingly loud as a reflex. Its scary when someome pulls on you like that. And it injured me permanantly.

That said, they do deliberately whip the crowd up into a frenzie so have to take some responsibility for the frenzied crowd acting irrationally.

Typo shining

Perhaps his true colours were shinning through.

As I've said on many occasions, I'm no fan of organised religion. However, he is an elderly man who possibly suffers from arthritis. Having your arm yanked like that might be painful. Alternatively, it might have scared him. He only tapped the woman's hand - she shouldn't have hung on when it was obvious he was trying to disengage.

He was 83 years old, and a human being, despite how he is regarded by his flock.

She was half his age, and had one eye on the camera when she grabbed his arm, pulled him toward her and almost pulled him over, then refused to let go of her probably painful grip on him. It was an attack by a strong youngish woman on a frail old man. If she had been carrying a knife in her other hand, and was fanatical enough to strike out with it whatever then happened to her, she would have achieved the assassination of a world religious leader and her own lasting place in the history books.

No wonder he wanted to be free of her, and was visibly disturbed by the encounter.

Doubtless she will be traced, and any terrorist links discovered.

They put their hands out towards him Jennifer and he chooses a few to hold.The young woman decided to grab him by the arm and yank him to her in case she missed out.

Although I agree that she shouldn’t have grabbed his arm,I thought his reaction was totally out of all proportion.

He actually became quite angry very quickly and it surprised me that his reaction was to slap her hand.

Surely he should be used to this.
Don’t people clutch his hand all the time on walkabouts?

I am sure believers see him as the nearest thing to their God and so therefore would want to touch him.

If he had held her other hand and had spoken to her she would have been happy.

I think anyone might have re-acted the same. She shouldn't have yanked his arm this way. I wouldn't like it and there not many who would (famous or not) I guess.

It's back to the Diana effect. Maybe people feel comforted when they touch or hug a royal, a dignitary or a person of the cloth. It is however getting out of control and I too was also concerned about Princess Charlotte getting a hug from a stranger.

merlotgran i didn't think it was quite right for that woman to hug Princess Charlotte either. A light touch of the hand would have been nicer.

Have any of you seen pictures of someone grabbing Princess Anne or attempting to hug her?
No, thought not. Neither have I.
It would take a brave soul methinks.
You know where you are with P Anne.

Well said, MOnica.

I agree with MOnica the Pope is an older man now and reacted instinctively.

I hope this is not blown out of proportion.

The pope is not a saint, he is an ordinary fallible man trying to do an enormous job.

The fact that he can fail and then apologise without excuse, says a lot for him. Can you see either of our great party leaders, or even the President of the United States, accepting that they had erred with the same grace? I can't.