The Vatican said a man has been arrested and will undergo compulsory medical treatment after breaking through Vatican security, smashing through a gate while driving at high speed.
A statement said a Vatican policeman fired a rifle and hit the car. He described the man as being in his forties and in an unstable state of mind.
The man did not go near the guest house on the other side of Vatican City where Pope Francesco lives.
The statement said that the security breach occurred at around eight o’clock on Thursday evening local time, when the man drove into St. Anne’s Gate, one of the multiple entrances separating the 0.44-square-kilometre sovereign city-state from Rome.
The Vatican said Friday that the man, who was accompanied by a lawyer, had been questioned by the public prosecutor.
The man was later transferred to a psychiatric unit at a hospital in Rome to undergo compulsory medical treatment.
The Italian news agency (ANSA) – quoting undisclosed high-level sources – said that the man had made two previous attempts Thursday to enter the Vatican, saying he wanted to speak to the Pope, but the guards refused him entry.