Vatican, a man undresses on the altar of St Peter's: protest against the war in Ukraine

The scene was filmed by a mobile phone under the stunned eyes of a group of faithful and spread on social networks

Vatican, a man gets naked on the altar of St Peter's: protest against the war in Ukraine

In the late afternoon, just before the closing time for tourists in St Peter's Basilica, a man with a lightning leap managed to climb onto the High Altar, right under Bernini's Baldachin, denuding himself completely.

The scene was filmed by a mobile phone under the stunned eyes of a group of faithful and spread on the Telegram channel 'Welcome to Favelas'. Naturally, the Sanpietrini on duty at the time intervened immediately, along with some gendarmes who forced the man to put his clothes back on and took him to the gendarmerie to be interrogated and identified.

The motives for the desecrating gesture would appear to be linked to the war in Ukraine, as the man said he suffered for the children dying under Russian bombs. From what Il Messaggero has learned, the author of this absurd gesture suffered from severe depression, so much so that he kept inflicting micro-wounds on himself with his nails. 

This is not the first time that such things have happened in the Basilica. In fact, the image of a deranged man who in 2016 wandered among the tourists with a backpack on his shoulders, completely naked, went around the world. On that occasion, too, he was stopped and transferred to the Gendarmerie. He turned out to be a homeless man with mental problems and was admitted to the psychiatric ward at the Santo Spirito hospital. 

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