The Vatican pledged to improve security for Pope Benedict XVI yesterday after a man vaulted over a barricade and tried to climb aboard the open-topped Popemobile in St Peter’s Square.

The pontiff’s bodyguards appeared to be taken by surprise by the incident during the weekly papal audience.

The man, a 27-year-old German described by the Vatican as “clearly mentally unbalanced”, was able to get within a few feet of the Pope. Wearing a pink T-shirt, dark shorts, a beige baseball cap and sunglasses, the man clung to the back of the Popemobile for a few seconds before being wrestled to the ground.

The Pope, who was standing at the time, appeared unaware of the scuffles behind him and carried on blessing the crowd of 40,000 without looking back. The driver also seemed not to notice and continued at the same steady pace.

Father Federico Lombardi, the papal spokesman, played down the incident, saying that the unarmed man had never posed a threat to the pontiff.

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