The Pope's Website Is Down After a Suspected Hack

The official website of the Vatican was shut down on Wednesday after a hacker disabled it. The Holy See believes that hackers are responsible.

Matteo Bruni, Holy See press director, said technical investigations are ongoing because of abnormal attempts to access the site. As of press time, the website was down for four hours.

Just a day after Russia launched a formal protest with the Vatican over Pope Francis' recent comments condemning Russian violence in Ukraine, the presumed digital sabotage came about. The Pope said in the spring that Ukraine provoked Russia. He didn't condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine for months, spurring criticism from some. In an interview published Monday in America Magazine, Pope Francis made some very strong comments about the treatment of Ukrainians by the Russians.

The Pope blamed the violence against Ukrainians on Russians. The Russian state invaded. It's very clear. Sometimes I don't specify so as not to offend or condemn, but it's well known who I'm condemning. I don't need to put a name and a name.

The press office didn't respond to the questions that Gizmodo posed.

The center of the catholic church has been vulnerable to online attacks before. According to the New York Times, a cybersecurity company claimed that the Vatican had been penetrated by Chinese hackers.

The Vatican launched a virtualRosary app in 2019. The app was hacked within 15 minutes of its launch and had flaws that exposed user personal information.