Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the Archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica, presided over a solemn rite of reparation on 13 October, following the desecration of the basilica’s main altar two days earlier.
The ceremony, held at the request of Pope Leo XIV, was intended to restore the sanctity of the Altar of Confession, which stands at the heart of Christendom, directly above the tomb of St Peter.
On the afternoon of 11 October, an unidentified man climbed onto the Altar of Confession and urinated in front of hundreds of horrified visitors. According to reports in Corriere della Sera and Il Tempo, Vatican security officers quickly subdued the man and escorted him from the basilica.
