#BreakingNews an Armed Priest is Arrested Trying to Enter Vatican Square before Pope Francis' Regina Caeli Prayer
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An armed priest, named Fr. Milan Palkovic, age 59, was detained at one of the entrances to St. Peter's Square hours before the Regina Caeli on Sunday, May 5th. Italian police officers arrested him on Sunday morning, hours before the Pope's prayer. The priest was dressed in a cassock at one of the entrances to St. Peter's Square in the Vatican armed with a compressed air pistol, two knives, a cutter and a screwdriver.
This is the second time in a week that someone has been arrested at the Vatican with weapons in their bag. (SEE ALSO : https://www.catholicnewsworld.com/2024/04/romes-police-arrest-one-of-americas.html) It was at 9am on Sunday, the 59-year-old priest originally from the Czech Republic was in line with the other faithful, when shortly before passing under the metal detector he was seen by officers from the Borgo police station passing a bag to another person. That gesture made the police suspicious, who after opening the bag found a small arsenal. In addition to the compressed air gun, without the red cap, there were also two knives, a cutter and a screwdriver.
Faced with that embarrassing discovery, the priest tried to justify himself by explaining that the bag was not his, but belonged to the man who was with him, one of the faithful with whom he had arrived in Rome on pilgrimage. The two were taken to the police station for checks. The priest and the 60-year-old man who was with him said the weapons were only for personal defense, fearing they would be attacked during the trip to Rome.
The priest was reported for illegal possession of weapons. Meanwhile, no action was taken for the other man who was with him. But the investigation continues to clarify why the priest was carrying the bag with the weapons in the first place, before passing it to the other man once he arrived at the controls. It is not clear, for example, whether it was the 60-year-old who asked the priest to carry the bag, in the hope of passing through using the cassock.
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