Cardinal Gambetti leads reparation rite in St. Peter’s after man desecrates altar, marking second vandalism incident in 2025.
Newsroom (14/10/2025, Gaudium Press) Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and vicar general for Vatican City, led a solemn penitential rite on October 13 to restore the sanctity of the basilica’s main altar following its desecration three days earlier. The act of reparation addressed a shocking incident on October 10, when an unidentified man climbed onto the Altar of the Confession beneath Bernini’s baldachin and urinated on it, stunning onlookers.
The rite began with a penitential procession at 12:45 p.m. local time, culminating at the defiled altar, where Cardinal Gambetti sprinkled holy water and incensed the sacred space as a gesture of purification. The ceremony, attended by members of the Vatican basilica’s chapter, sought divine forgiveness for the act of sacrilege, according to Father Enzo Fortunato, director of communications for St. Peter’s Basilica, in an interview with ACI Prensa.
The October 10 incident unfolded in full view of tourists, with video footage circulating widely on social media. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that the man “urinated under the stunned gaze of hundreds of tourists” before plainclothes security officers swiftly apprehended him and escorted him from the basilica. His identity remains undisclosed, and the Holy See Press Office had not issued an official statement as of October 11, though Il Tempo reported that Pope Leo XIV was deeply shaken by the news and personally requested the reparation rite.
This marks the second desecration of St. Peter’s Basilica in 2025. In February, a vandal climbed the same altar, damaging it by toppling six candelabras. A similar act occurred in June 2023, when a Polish man stripped naked at the altar in protest of the war in Ukraine, leaving the message “Save children of Ukraine” written on his back. That incident also prompted a penitential rite to restore the altar’s sanctity.
The repeated acts of vandalism have raised concerns about security at one of Christianity’s holiest sites, though Vatican officials have yet to announce specific measures in response. For now, the faithful and clergy alike look to the recent rite of reparation as a step toward healing and renewal in the heart of the Catholic Church.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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