On October 10th, St. Peter’s Basilica, the heart of Christendom, once again became the scene of a sacrilegious act. During the Mass celebrated at the Altar of the Confession, under the majestic baldachin of Bernini, a man stripped naked and attempted to urinate in front of the faithful. The images, quickly disseminated, provoked shock and indignation around the world.
This is not an isolated incident. It is the third profanation in less than three years at the same altar. In June 2023, a man stripped naked on the main altar with a message painted on his back; in February 2025, another individual destroyed six candelabras and damaged the altar. That time, not even the rite of reparation was performed.
Three sacrileges in such a short time are no coincidence, but proof that St. Peter’s Basilica, the mother church of the Church, is not being guarded with the seriousness and vigilance it deserves. And the direct person responsible for that custody is Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of the Vatican Basilica.
The Pope’s intervention
According to what was revealed by Silere non possum, upon seeing the images of the latest sacrilege, Pope Leo XIV did not hide his “astonishment and bitterness.” But he did not stop at the reaction: he immediately ordered that a penitential rite of reparation be celebrated in the Basilica, on the first possible working day, as established by the Ceremoniale Episcoporum.
The Pope’s decision was the minimum required. What is scandalous is that it was necessary. Because Cardinal Gambetti had decided not to perform the rite of reparation, as if the main altar of St. Peter could continue to be used without being liturgically reconciled after such a profanation.
The fact that the Pope had to intervene personally to order what any diligent archpriest should have done immediately is a cause of shame for the Church.
Gambetti at the center of criticism
This is not the first time Gambetti has reacted with lukewarmness. After the profanation of February 2025, when serious material damage was caused to the altar, no rite of reparation was celebrated either. That passivity, repeated now, exposes an indolent management that minimizes the sacred value of St. Peter’s Basilica.
We are talking about the place where the remains of St. Peter rest, the altar where the Pope’s Mass is celebrated, the liturgical heart of the Catholic Church. That this place be profaned again and again, and that its custodian look the other way, is simply intolerable.
The dignity of St. Peter cannot be negotiable
Leo XIV has done well in ordering the penitential rite and in reminding everyone that St. Peter is not a museum, nor a tourist auditorium, but the most sacred place in the Church. But the fact that the Pope has to give an express order for something so obvious is a scandal in itself.
If Gambetti does not understand the gravity of what happened, if he is not capable of reacting with the firmness required to guard the main altar of Christendom, then the honest thing would be to relieve him of that responsibility. The Vatican Basilica needs zealous and vigilant shepherds, not distracted administrators. What is at stake is not a mere liturgical protocol, but the faith of God’s people and the respect due to the place where Peter bore witness until shedding his blood.