VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI appeared in good shape Saturday as he addressed the faithful two days after a woman knocked him down at the start of Christmas Eve Mass.

Benedict spoke about the plight of persecuted Christians around the world and did not mention the incident in his message to a crowd gathered in a rainy St. Peter's Square.

On the day Christians commemorate St. Stephen, the church's first martyr, the pope remembered those who "undergo trials and suffering because of their faith" and urged prayers for them.

The 82-year-old pontiff was processing through St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday when a woman described by Vatican officials as mentally unstable jumped the barricades and pulled him to the ground as she was taken down by guards.

Benedict quickly got up and, though slightly rattled, continued with the Mass. The morning after he delivered his traditional Christmas Day message.

While Benedict was unhurt in the tumble, a retired Vatican diplomat, French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, fell and fractured his hip in the commotion.

The Vatican's spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Saturday the 87-year-old prelate would probably undergo surgery on Sunday.

"Visitors report that the cardinal is serene and in high spirits and that he offers his prayers for the pope and awaits with optimism the surgery," Lombardi said in a statement.

The Vatican identified the woman involved in Thursday night's incident as 25-year-old Susanna Maiolo, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems.

By The Associated Press