A man who was urinating on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica is being pulled down by a security guard. /Courtesy of X

A man climbed onto the altar of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, pulled down his pants, and urinated, shocking the pope.

According to Italy's Corriere della Sera and Il Tempo on the 14th, the man on the 10th (local time) climbed onto the "Altar of Confession," regarded in Catholicism as a sacred place. He evaded a security guard's notice, passed through a turnstile access control device, and got onto the altar.

He then pulled down his pants and began urinating in front of hundreds of tourists. A security guard noticed and tried to pull the man down, but he resisted with force; when another guard approached, he pulled up his pants and climbed down from the altar. The guards escorted the man out of the basilica.

A man is urinating on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. /Courtesy of X

Italian media reported that Pope Leo XIV was briefed on the incident and was shocked. Matteo Bruni, the Vatican Spokesperson, said in a statement sent to ANSA that "a person with serious mental problems was apprehended by the Vatican police and handed over to the Italian authorities," without elaborating.

St. Peter's Basilica also suffered an incident in February this year when a man climbed onto the altar and hurled a candlestick that had been on it to the floor.

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