The high tourist season in Italy may be over, but the tourists' antics certainly aren't—so much so that Pope Leo has had to get involved.
Onlookers were horrified when during a visit to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City a man dropped his pants and urinated on the altar.
The Altar of the Confession is directly above the tomb of St. Peter, the first Pope, and is where the Pope conducts mass.
As such, it is incredibly sacred to Catholics, so the man's, uh, rest stop has left many furious, including Vatican City police, who hauled him away.
The man has yet to be identified and is believed to still be in custody after being dragged off by the cops.
The incident took place on Friday, Oct. 10, around 9:30 a.m. local time in the church in Vatican City, according to Italian outlet Il Tempo. The man reportedly circumvented barriers that surround the altar, climbed the steps and urinated on the holy structure.
Efforts to repair his desecration of the holy site were ongoing long after he and his bare backside were removed from the building.
In the aftermath, Pope Leo ordered priests to immediately perform purification rights in order to "restore the holiness of the place and ask forgiveness from God.”
After meeting with Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, one of the basilica's senior managers, it was decided that it would be temporarily closed while priests anointed the altar with holy water while reciting certain prayers and readings from the Book of Psalms.
On social media, pretty much everyone was appalled by the incident.
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This is the third time in two years that the Altar of the Confession has been desecrated by a visitor.
In February a man damaged several sacred candelabras while shouting profanity, and in 2023 a Polish man stripped naked on the altar to protest the war in Ukraine.
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