A member of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard is under investigation for allegedly spitting at two Jewish women attending a Papal address affirming mutual respect for other religions.
Vivian Liska, director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp, said a guard muttered under his breath, “les Juifs” (the Jews) as they entered St Peter’s Square with the Jewish delegation.
The guard then allegedly “made a small gesture, as if to spit”, before denying having made the comment. She reported the incident to the authorities, who said on Monday they were investigating.
Prof Liska and Michal Govrin, an Israeli writer, had travelled to the Vatican at the end of October to mark the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, a document about inter-religious dialogue.
Cpl Eliah Cinotti, spokesperson for the Swiss Guards, said that the guard had been placed under a procedural internal investigation “to be sure of the professionalism of the guards in service”.
The Vatican also said that a preliminary reconstruction of the event indicated a disagreement had arisen over a request to take photos at a guard post leading into the Vatican from Rome.
Prof Liska told La Repubblica that the guard had said “No photographs” as they walked towards the square on 29 October, before adding, “as if talking to himself”, “Juifs”.
Ms Govrin told Kathpress, a Catholic news agency, that the guard “noticeably hissed at us with deep contempt”.
The writer said her colleague turned to the guard and said, “You said ‘Les Juifs’” to which the guard replied: “No, I didn’t,” and “You are lying.”
He then made “a contemptuous sound of spitting toward us,” Ms Govrin said.
“We were totally shocked,” she said in a written statement. “Such an incident of Jewish hatred inside the Vatican?! In contrast to the Pope’s important words strongly condemning antisemitism and calling for collaboration and peace?!”
She said they complained to the Vatican authorities, who apologised and said the matter would be investigated.
Prof Liska said that she received a telephone call from a Swiss Guard official who said they had reviewed CCTV footage but could not determine what the Swiss Guard had said.
“In any case, it was a small thing on the part of a single individual, and I don’t think it’s right for it to translate into a negative feeling about all those days,” she said.
“There were beautiful things that happened, as well as disappointing, irritating, and even worrying things.”
Pope Leo XIV insisted during his address on 29 October that the Catholic Church “does not tolerate antisemitism and fights against it”.
His speech reflected on how the declaration of Nostra Aetate, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions, had “opened up a new horizon of encounter, respect and spiritual hospitality”.
The document, he said, “teaches us to meet the followers of other religions not as outsiders, but as travelling companions on the path of truth” and “to honour differences affirming our common humanity”.
