Man Climbs the Main Altar of St. Peter’s Basilica and Throws Candelabra to the Floor

On February 7, 2025, a man desecrated the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican by climbing onto it and throwing six candelabras to the floor. He then began removing the altar cloth before being swiftly apprehended by Vatican security personnel. The individual, identified as a Romanian national, was detained by the Vatican Police and handed over to Italian authorities. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, described the incident as involving “a person with a serious mental disability.” 

A reportage on this story, which appeared in the Catholic News Agency, follows, and it includes a visual account of the incident.

A man desecrated the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican by climbing on top of it and throwing six candelabras that were on the altar to the ground, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

After throwing the candelabras, the man began to remove the altar cloth, as can be seen in a video posted on social media. The subject was then quickly detained by security agents. 

According to ANSA, the suspect, of Romanian origin, was detained by the Vatican Police, after which he was identified and charged by agents of the Vatican Inspectorate. 

“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,” the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, told ANSA. 

According to the Spanish newspaper ABC, the man was arrested because the basilica’s alarm was activated when he stood on the altar. 

In 2023 a similar incident was recorded when a man climbed the high altar and undressed, after which he was also arrested. 

The Code of Canon Law, the law that regulates the Catholic Church, establishes in canon 1210 that “in a sacred place” such as St. Peter’s Basilica, “only those things which serve the exercise or promotion of worship, piety, or religion are permitted in a sacred place; anything not consonant with the holiness of the place is forbidden.”