教皇本笃在圣彼得广场向成千上万的人发表传统的圣诞节祝词。几个小时前，一名妇女在圣诞除夕弥撒时将教皇撞倒。教皇星期五早上用多种语言发表演讲，对全球金融危机的影响，中东和刚果民主共和国的冲突，马达加斯加，尼日尔和几内亚的政治动荡，表示痛惜。
但是他说，全球的基督徒，包括“伊拉克的一小群”，以“热情和慷慨”的精神，为“和平与共存”而奋斗。梵蒂冈的一位发言人说，将教皇撞倒的女子25岁，持有意大利和瑞士国籍，她当时没有携带武器，但因心理状态不稳定而被送往医院。在星期四的事件中，教皇本笃没有受伤，但是现年87岁的法国枢机主教埃切加雷也被撞倒，并由于腿断而立即被送走。
Pope Benedict has delivered his traditional Christmas day blessing before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, just hours after he was knocked to the ground by a woman at Christmas eve Mass. Speaking in multiple languages Friday morning, the Pope lamented the effects of the global financial crisis, conflicts in the Middle East and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and political turmoil in Madagascar, Niger, and Guinea.
But he said Christians around the world — including a “tiny flock in Iraq” — work with “vigor and generosity” for “peace and coexistence.” A Vatican spokesman said the woman who rushed him the night before, (Susanna Maiolo,) a 25-year-old Italian-Swiss national, was psychologically unstable and had been taken to a hospital. The spokesman said the woman was unarmed. The pope was unhurt in Thursday’s incident, but 87-year-old French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray was also knocked over and taken away with a broken leg.