SHOTS IN ST. PETER'S.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 309, 24 May 1911, Page 7

SHOTS IN ST. PETER'S.

MAX WIK) WANTED TO KILL THK POPE. An extraordinary incident occurred in St. Peter's, lionie, 011 May 4. Every morning .solemn High Mass is celebrated in 011 c of the side chapels, where the canons assemble to sing Matins, tlenerally tourists interrupt their sight-seeing and tarry near the chapel listening to the singing. At about half-past eleven on the morning of May 4, when the Mass was ended, and the celebrant, preceded by the canons, had left the altar, a loud report echoed through the great church. The congregation, in a state of panic, rushed wildly towards the doors, and the canons ami priests lied to the sacristy. Women screamed, and the utmost confusion prevailed. A policeman was then seen to be struggling violently with ,a powerful man who held a smoking revolver in his hand. Several men rushed to the policeman's aid, and succeeded in disarming the offender, who was in 11 state of great excitement, and threatening to kill the priests. Surrounded by policemen, and followed by a large crowd, he was taken to the police station. (Meanw]iile the brave policeman who, single-handed, had sprung upon the man wlicn lie fired the first shot, realised,that he had been shot through the arm. He refused, however, to go to the hospital, until the prisoner had .been lodged, ip jtlie. police station. At the station the man gave the name of Pietro Desanti, and said lie was a native of Ts'tria, 45, He added that lie was an Antt-Cieriqil, and hated religion and the priests; hence his desire to kill the Vatican clergy. Desanti said he came to Rome last August, with 'the fixed determination of killing the Pope, but as he had not been a<ble to enter the Vatican, he decided to kill a priest. His original intention, he continued,was to get appointed gardener at the Vatican, and as lie knew the Pope well by sight he could easily have shot him, but the authorities refused him the post. Desanti regretted that he had missed the priest, and remarked that he would willingly try again if he had the chance. Monsignor Oizi, who was celebrating Mass, said he heard a revolver bullet whizz within an inch of his neck. He instinctively bent his head, and was not hit Desanti's real motive, it appears, is personal. : Jt is alleged that the parish priest of his native town had persuaded his uncle and aunt to disinherit him and to leave their money to the Church. In an outburst of fury Desanti murdered his relatives, and was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life. He waß released after serving twenty years, and emigrated to America, where lie saved money, and returned to Italy with the intention of wreaking his vengeance on the head of the Church. The Pope was informed of the outrage just before lunch, and was deeply grieved at the sacrilege, which he attributed to the growing spirit of anti-Clericalism. He gave orders for, the reconsecration of the chapel, and sent a message of sympathy to Monsignor Orzi, whom he congratulated upon his narrow escape.