"Technical investigations are ongoing due to abnormal attempts to access the site," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told Reuters Nov. 30, without elaboration.

The perpetrator and motives of the alleged hacker or hackers, in this case, remain unclear.

The attack came a day after Russian leaders criticised Pope Francis for comments he made about Russia's war in Ukraine in a recent interview.

In the interview, the pope described Ukraine as a "martyred people" and singled out two Russian ethnic minorities — Chechens and Buryati — as "generally the cruellest" in the conflict.

The Vatican's ageing main website has attracted other hackers, too.

In 2012, the Italian branch of the activist hacking group Anonymous took down the Vatican's website using a simple "denial of service" hacking method, whereby the site was artificially flooded with traffic in an attempt to overload it. Continue reading

At prayforthesynod.va, Catholics can find information in English, Spanish, and other languages about how to support the synod through prayer.

"This website, together with the app Click To Pray, aims to accompany the synodal way for prayer," the website says on its "About us" page.

"In order to ‘walk together' and listen to the Holy Spirit we need to pray. There can be no synodal way without personal and community prayer. Prayer prepares our hearts to listen carefully to others and helps us to discern the action of the Holy Spirit throughout the world."

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