Phony priest busted at Vatican

VATICAN CITY, July 6 (UPI) -- A man pretending to be a priest was found out after attempting to hear confessions at Rome's St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, a judge said.

Judge Gianluigi Marrone said the man -- who was in possession of clerical garb and documents -- was tried by a Vatican tribunal, the BBC reported Sunday. The judge did not say whether the man was convicted or punished.

"He was caught by surprise in the basilica while he was trying to take his place in a confessional. He was wearing clerical garb, but the expert eye of our personnel didn't need much to sense something strange in his behavior," Marrone said.

Marrone said the man had pretended in the past to be a priest.

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