How Impostor Sneaked Into Vatican
Yesterday an imposter dressed as a cardinal sneaked into the Vatican to try to take part in the talks to elect the next pope - and was only rumbled when security guards noticed his robes were too short.
The child abuse protester, calling himself 'Basilius', shook hands with his 'fellow cardinals' and made it as far as the square outside the Paul VI audience hall before he was caught and taken away.
The security breach came as 103 real cardinals arrived in Rome to start the meeting that will choose when the pope is elected. The decision will be delayed because 12 cardinals have still not arrived.
German born Ralph Napierski was seen shaking hands with unsuspecting Cardinal Sergio Sebiastiana outside the Vatican's Pope Paul VI hall, with several other priests in his entourage who were also thought to be bogus.
Alert Swiss Guards rumbled him because his vestments were wrong and because they noticed his purple sash was really a scarf and he was also wearing an odd looking fedora hat, while the other giveaway was the shortness of his black cassock and the crucifix around his neck was on a short chain.
Before being spotted Napierski had told reporters his name was Basilius and that he was a member of the non existent Italian Orthodox Church - initially there were reports in the Italian media that he was part of a stunt by Australian TV but this proved false.
Napierski also told reporters that the Catholic Church had made ‘serious mistakes’ by allowing priests accused of sex crimes to move to different parishes elsewhere and cover up scandals instead of dealing with them.
The imposter has a website in which he claims to be a bishop with a Catholic organisation called Corpus Dei and it shows him dressed in robes and he describes himself as a ‘slave and apostle like St Paul’ although it is littered with spelling mistakes.
On You Tube Napierski has also uploaded several videos in which he describes the benefits of the ‘ancient hidden spiritual practice of Jesus Yoga’ and his website goes on to add that he is ‘fighting the heresy and false movements inside the Roman Catholic Church.’
Vatican officials tried to play down the incident with spokesman Father Federico Lombardi saying: ’I'm not aware of this at all - I was inside the hall and all those inside were real cardinals,’ he joked.
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