ROME — A man stormed the border of the Vatican City State in his car Thursday evening, sailing through two security check points before eventually being apprehended.
According to a statement by the Holy See Press Office, the 40-year-old man was initially denied entry at the Vatican’s Saint Anna gate by the Pontifical Swiss Guard, after which he maneuvered his car away from the gate only to return at high speed, scattering the sentries who jumped out of the vehicle’s path.
One of the Vatican gendarmes fired at the car’s front tires in an attempt to halt its progress but only managed to strike the left front fender.
The man made it as far as the San Damaso Courtyard within the Vatican before being stopped by police. He voluntarily exited the car when ordered to do so and was immediately apprehended.
The driver was subsequently examined by doctors at the Directorate of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City State, who found him to be in “a serious state of psychophysical alteration,” the Vatican’s statement said.
The Vatican City State, the world’s only completely walled-in sovereign territory, has several entry points, all but one of which — the Saint Anna gate — are locked tight from dusk until dawn. The gates are manned by the Swiss Guard, with gendarmes carrying firearms not far off.
Police officers patrol at St. Peter’s square in The Vatican on January 4, 2023 on the eve of the funeral mass of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)
Pope Francis has repeatedly railed against the building of walls. In his 2020 encyclical letter titled Fratelli Tutti (Brothers All), the pontiff referred to walls a remarkable 14 times, insisting that the Church wants “to build bridges, to break down walls, to sow seeds of reconciliation.”
Building walls reveals a deep-seated fear of others and of the unknown, the pope wrote, and a desire for security in one’s own little world.
“There is a kind of ‘local’ narcissism unrelated to a healthy love of one’s own people and culture,” Francis said. “It is born of a certain insecurity and fear of the other that leads to rejection and the desire to erect walls for self-defense.”
“Today too, outside the ancient town walls lies the abyss, the territory of the unknown, the wilderness,” he stated. “Whatever comes from there cannot be trusted, for it is unknown, unfamiliar, not part of the village. It is the territory of the ‘barbarian,’ from whom we must defend ourselves at all costs.”
Earlier this week, the chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Immigration said nations have an obligation to welcome migrants at the border as “long-lost” brothers and sisters showing up at our door.
“Imagine some long-lost family members show up at your door. What would you do?” Bishop Mark Seitz asked in a public service announcement. “We are all part of the human family and the immigrants that are coming to the door of our country right now are our lost brothers and sisters.”
An open-borders champion, Bishop Seitz sent an open letter to Congress last week urging opposition to the Secure the Border Act of 2023.
In 2019, Seitz condemned President Trump’s border wall as a “monument to hate” and a symbol of exclusion, xenophobia, and racism.
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