Susanna Maiolo, 25, a dual Italian-Swiss national, jumped over a barricade and grabbed the pontiff's gold and white vestments pulling him to the floor.
She was tackled by security guards, provoking screams from the congregation. It has emerged that the woman attempted the same attack last year.
The Vatican said Ms Maiolo was “psychologically unstable” and unarmed and the 82-year-old Pope was not hurt. She was taken to an Italian hospital for psychological treatment.
The Pope did appear somewhat shaken and leaned heavily on aides and an armrest as he sat down in his chair. He made no reference to the incident as the service started.
There have been relatively few security breaches in Benedict's pontificate, which began in 2005. In 2007 a German man jumped over a barricade in St Peter's Square as the Pope's jeep was passing during a general audience and tried to board the vehicle.
The most serious attack on a pope in the Vatican came in 1981 when Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, shot and nearly killed Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Square.
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