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Fake bishop kicked out of cardinals meeting

Published: March 04, 2013

A man dressed up in fake ecclesiastical robes was escorted out of a meeting of Catholic cardinals by Swiss Guards on Monday after trying to sneak into the closed-door Vatican meeting, reports AFP on Ninemsn.

The man, whose real name is Ralph Napierski, had told reporters that his name was "Basilius" and that he was a member of the "Italian Orthodox Church", which does not exist.

Before he was discovered, the "bishop" told reporters that Catholic bishops had "made a mistake by moving priests" who were accused of paedophilia around different parishes.

He was wearing a purple scarf around his waist that was similar to the sashes warn by senior Catholic prelates and he shook hands and chatted with priests and cardinals arriving at the meeting.

FULL STORY Fake bishop kicked out of cardinals meeting (Ninemsn)


 

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Recent Comments

  1. Ha, ha!
    Nothing like a bit of good humour - it livens things up.
    What type of control system exists for not discovering the man earlier?

  2. Good grief! What were those Swiss Guards doing? Surely not in on the joke?

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