Protecting Vatican from terrorists is an 'enormous' challenge

Eric J. Lyman | Special for USA TODAY

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VATICAN CITY— When Pope Francis orders the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica open Dec. 8 for the start of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, tens of thousands of Catholic pilgrims — and the tightest security the Vatican has ever seen — will be on hand for the occasion.

In the wake of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, the Vatican stepped up security dramatically. A heavier police presence is noticeable around St. Peter's Square, and security checks for those entering St. Peter's Basilica have become more thorough.

Yet many security experts doubt those steps will be enough to adequately protect Francis, other church leaders and the waves of the faithful who visit the focal point for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics every day.

"Protecting the Vatican has always been an enormous and risky challenge," said Massimo Bianco, president of the International University of Security Science in Milan. "That is even more true now, with a pope who is a worldwide phenomenon and a rising level of threat."

The Vatican City faces unique security challenges, including the fact that the pope and his church want to be open to the faithful and other visitors.

In addition, the tiny, autonomous city-state, surrounded by Rome, is dependent on Italy for border security. Within the 110-acre sovereign state, security is handled by a 140-member Swiss Guard, a 509-year-old corps that still arms itself with swords and dresses in colorful Renaissance-era uniforms. Ever since a 1981 attempt on the life of then-Pope John Paul II, the Swiss Guard has balanced its ceremonial functions with more typical security roles.

Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and other Islamic extremist movements that commit terrorism see the Vatican as a potential target because of its importance to Christians. In February, an Islamic State propaganda magazine, Dabiq, ran a cover image showing the Islamic State flag over St. Peter's Square with the headline, "The failed crusade."

After the attacks in Paris, the Islamic State used social media to say the next attacks would focus on Rome, along with London and Washington. That prompted the U.S. embassy in Rome to issue warnings to visitors in the Italian capital to be on the alert near key tourist spots, including St. Peter's Square.

A further security concern is the fact that the Jubilee will attract millions of extra visitors over 11 months. The event, announced last March, gave security officials much less time to prepare than normally, since Jubilee celebrations are usually announced a decade or more in advance.

Protecting the pope creates additional security challenges since he likes to wade unexpectedly into crowds to shake hands or bless children and the disabled.

"The problem on top of all this is that while the threats evolve, Vatican security strategies have not changed much in recent decades," said Sabrina Magris, president of the Rome- and Florence-based Ecole Universitaire Internationale, the only European institution that trains hostage and terror negotiators.

Magris noted that during the pope's trip to Brazil in 2013, his motorcade took a wrong turn, putting it in congested Rio de Janeiro traffic and allowing crowds to mob the pope's vehicle.

"The papal security team regularly makes mistakes that shouldn't be made at that level," Magris said.

Another top security expert, who asked to remain anonymous because of the private nature of his job, visited the Vatican along with Magris and a USA TODAY reporter and showed ways to sneak potential threats past even stepped-up Vatican security.

"The biggest threat to Francis might be someone with a small firearm positioned next to a family holding up a baby who happens to catch the pope's eye," Magris said.

In St. Peter's Square, visitors said they had no problems with the extra security measures, but also said they had a hard time imagining a terror attack in the Vatican City.

"You can't complain about extra security," said Maria Rey, 40, a high school teacher from San Antonio, Texas, on vacation in Rome. "It would be a huge blow if anything happened to the Holy Father or to the Vatican."

Emma Larkin, 20, a Washington, D.C., native on a semester abroad in Rome, agreed: "It just makes my skin crawl to think of an attack here," she said.

Antonio Amione, a 25-year-old shop worker, acknowledged risks but said it was important to carry on as normal. "We're all at risk, whatever we do, that is just the world we live in now," Amione said. "But it is important not to feel too much fear. It is important for us to keep the faith."