VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A vile desecration took place at St. Peter’s Basilica when a man urinated on the Altar of Confession — the main papal altar situated above St. Peter’s tomb — as Mass was reportedly taking place Friday morning.
A large crowd looked on in horror as they realized what was happening. Authorities quickly ushered the man away as he pulled up his pants.
Video footage was first posted on X by Radio Genoa, then amplified by independent Catholic journalist Bree A. Dail.
“This is an episode of a person with a serious mental disability who has been detained by the Vatican Police and then placed at the disposal of the Italian authorities,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
Canon Law states that when sacred places are violated by gravely injurious actions so as to cause scandal to the faithful — “actions which … are so grave and contrary to the holiness of the place” — “it is not permitted to carry on worship in them until the damage is repaired by a penitential rite.”
As such, a rite of reparation was celebrated on Monday.
This isn’t the first time in recent history that offensive desecrations have been perpetrated at St. Peter’s Basilica.
In February, a man was arrested by Vatican police after he jumped onto the High Altar and kicked off the historic candelabra along with the altar cloths.
BREAKING: A man, reportedly Romanian, broke through barriers at the Vatican today and kicked the candles and altar cloths off the high altar.
Footage was posted earlier today on social media. pic.twitter.com/e3qk4PV12r— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) February 7, 2025
A similar such event took place in June 2023, when a man jumped on top of the same High Altar and stripped his clothes off. He later told security that he was mourning “for Ukrainian children losing their lives under Russian bombardment.”
After the 2023 incident, the Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gamberti, held a penitential ritual at the altar in accordance with the prescriptions of Canon Law.
