Overview
- The incident occurred Friday around 9 a.m. at the Altar of Confession during Holy Mass, with onlooker videos showing plainclothes officers swiftly removing the man.
- Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni told ANSA the individual has a serious mental disability and was detained by Vatican Police before being placed at the disposal of Italian authorities.
- The suspect has not been publicly identified, and it remains unclear whether he faces charges, while local reports say Pope Leo XIV was informed and was described as shocked.
- Footage circulating online has intensified questions over visitor access and safeguards around one of Catholicism’s most sacred spaces.
- The episode follows earlier intrusions at the same altar, including a June 2023 naked protest and a February 2025 vandalism that damaged candelabras, which previously led to a penitential rite.