A car driven by someone with obvious psychiatric problems ran through one Vatican gate Thursday night and sped past Swiss Guards into a palace courtyard before the driver was arrested by police, Holy chair said.
Vatican gendarmes fired a shot at the front tire of the speeding car after it crashed into the gate, but the vehicle managed to continue on its way, the Vatican press office said in a statement late Thursday.
Once the car reached the San Damaso courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, the driver got out and was immediately arrested by Vatican gendarmes. The Vatican said the driver was around 40 years old and was in a “severe state of psychophysical change”. He was imprisoned in the Vatican barracks.
It was not clear if Pope Francis was anywhere near the incident, which happened after 8pm at the Santa Anna Gate, one of the main entrances to Vatican City in the heart of Rome.
A Swiss Guard officer and a Vatican gendarme patrol the Santa Anna Gate at the Vatican, late Thursday, May 18, 2023. A car driven by someone with apparent psychiatric problems sped through the Santa Anna Gate on Thursday night and sped past the Swiss guards into a palace courtyard . before the driver was arrested by the police. Vatican gendarmes fired a shot at the front tire of the speeding car after it crashed into the gate, but the vehicle managed to continue on its way, the Vatican press office said in a statement late Thursday. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini).
Francis is staying on the other side of Vatican City at the Santa Marta Hotel, where at that time he would normally have dinner and retire to his room. The Vatican statement said that as soon as gendarmes raised the alarm about an intrusion, the main gate blocking access to the piazza in front of Francis’ hotel was closed.
The incident was a rare incursion into the city-state, much of which is off limits to the public, especially at night.
While visitors can access St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums during office hours, and those with a doctor’s prescription can go to the Vatican Pharmacy, permission is required to enter other buildings in the enclave.
The Apostolic Palace, which houses the papal apartments, key reception rooms, Vatican archives and offices, is guarded around the clock by Swiss guards and gendarmes manning various checkpoints.
This is not the first time that someone with apparent psychiatric problems has caused a disturbance in the Vatican. During a Christmas Eve mass in 2009, a woman jumped over the barricade of St. Peter’s Basilica and tried to attack Pope Benedict XVI. He was not injured, although a cardinal walking in the procession broke his hip in the scuffle.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
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