Fake Cardinal Tried to Sneak into Vatican Conclave
By: Fox News
Updated: March 5, 2013
A bogus bishop nearly sneaked into the closed-door Vatican meeting of the world's cardinals yesterday as they prepared to choose the next pope.
"Bishop Ralph Napierski" got past a checkpoint of Swiss Guards and was photographed shaking hands with Sergio Cardinal Sebastiani in the cobblestone square to the left of St. Peter's Basilica.
But Napierski never made it inside the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall, where more than 140 cardinals from around the world were having their first formal meeting since the resignation of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
What gave the gatecrasher away?
Well, his cassock was several inches too short. His crucifix looked odd. His purple sash was obviously a scarf.
And instead of wearing a zucchetto -- the familiar ecclesiastical skullcap of bishops -- he had a black, brimmed fedora.
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