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The Vatican is said not to be amused by a fake bishop, Monday, trying to sneak into secret talks held in preparation to elect a new pope.
Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, would not comment on the man’s alleged attempt to enter the general congregations meeting.
“All I can say is that everyone seated for the congregation is a real cardinal,” Lombardi said.
The impostor, Ralph Napierski is a German who said he is part of a non-existent Catholic institution called Corpus Dei (a play on “Opus Dei,” a real Catholic group).
He milled around the area outside the meetings for half an hour with no problems. He told onlookers his name was Basilius and that he was a bishop in an Italian Orthodox Church, which does not exist.
At one point he posed for a photo with Italian Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, president emeritus of the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs.
According to Robert Mickens, a veteran correspondent for The Tablet, the U.K.-based Catholic newspaper, it’s not surprising this kind of attempt happens from time to time.
“The church is very hierarchical, and so it can be quite awkward for security personnel to stop a senior cleric and ask to see his badge,” Mickens said.
Napierski was wearing a too-short cassock, a black fedora in place of a clergy’s skull cap and a bright purple-pink sash that turned out to be a simple winter scarf. He was accompanied by a small entourage of fake priest assistants.
Napierski was stopped by security before he was able to enter the auditorium hosting the meetings. It is not clear what his intentions were in trying to enter the meetings.
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