Shouting “this is not the church of God” in English, a man interrupted the weekly audience held by Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday (2). He gestured while holding a black mask that he had removed from his face until he was taken away by police, video footage of the moment shows.
The individual, who did not resist the intervention of security agents, also said “God rejects you; you are not a king”, referring to the pontiff, according to the AFP news agency.
The man was also heard speaking in Italian and was seated alone at the back of the courtroom, far from where most of those present were. He appears to be in his 40s to 50s.
A Vatican source told Reuters that he was an Irish citizen who lives in Rome and has already delivered similar speeches in several churches in the Italian capital, but did not elaborate.
Pope Francis heard the screams, but it was unclear whether he understood, at the time, what the man was saying. After the individual was taken away by the police, the pontiff asked those present in the audience room to join him in saying a prayer for the man.
“A few minutes ago we heard a man screaming, yelling. He had some kind of problem, I don’t know whether it was physical, psychological or spiritual, but it’s a brother of ours who has a problem,” the pope said. “I would like to end by praying for him, for our brother who is suffering. Let us not be deaf to this brother’s needs.”
According to information from the National Catholic Reporter, an American newspaper that covers the Catholic Church, anyone attending Vatican events must wear high-filtration PFF2 face masks (equivalent to other known international standards such as N95, KN95 and P2 masks), which reduce the risk of coronavirus infection.
Pope Francis has delivered, in recent months, a series of speeches that meet historic demands presented to the church, although he has not changed the institution’s dogmas. This Tuesday (1st), for example, the pontiff told the nuns that they must fight when they are reduced to servitude by high-ranking religious.
“I invite them to fight when they are treated unjustly, even within the church, when their service, so noble, is reduced to servitude, even on the part of the men of the church,” the pontiff said in a video released by the Vatican.
Source: Folha
