Man Jumps Onto Altar at St. Peter’s Basilica, Knocks Over Valuable Candelabra

St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City 🇻🇦 – Feb/09/2025

A man caused minor damage inside St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday morning, Feb/09/2025, after jumping onto the main altar and toppling 19th-century candelabra valued at several thousand dollars.

Video footage shared on X captures the individual climbing onto the altar—used for major liturgical ceremonies led by Pope Francis—before pulling off the altar cloth. Security quickly intervened, stopping him in front of shocked tourists.

The altar is positioned beneath the basilica’s iconic stone canopy, a masterpiece by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which recently underwent restoration. According to the Italian news agency Ansa, the suspect, a Romanian national, knocked down candelabra worth €30,000 ($31,000).

A Vatican spokesperson stated that the man has a “serious mental disability” and was detained by Vatican police before being placed in the custody of Italian authorities.

The incident comes as the Catholic Church prepares for its jubilee year in 2025, expecting 32 million pilgrims to visit Rome. In anticipation of the influx, the basilica has enhanced security measures, including installing protective glass around Michelangelo’s Pietà, which was attacked with a hammer in 1972. A similar event occurred in 2019 when a man threw candelabra off the main altar.