Gypsies, tramps, and thieves
We'd hear it from the people of the town
They'd call us
Gypsies, tramps, and thieves
But every night
All the men would come around
And lay their money down . . .
Posted on 01/19/2007 10:51:05 AM PST by Risha
Is the Vatican a Rogue State?
The top crime neighborhood in the world isn't in Sao Paulo or Lagos. It's not the Bronx in New York, or even Wedding in Berlin. It's the small city ruled by Pope Benedict XVI, which apparently sees more criminal cases per capita than any other part of the world. Rampant crime: Pickpockets on St. Peter's Square can just trot over an international border into Italy.
The Vatican's attorney general Nicola Picardi released the astounding statistic at the start of 2007: The tiny nation's justice department in 2006 had to contend with 341 civil and 486 criminal cases. In a population of 492, that measures out to 1.5 cases per person -- twenty times the corresponding rate in Italy. By this measurement at least, crime is soaring in the Vatican in spite of a security force that would put a police state to shame.
The seat of the Catholic Church has one Swiss guard for every four citizens, not to mention museum guards and police assigned to the Vatican by Italy. Picardi did say that most criminal cases were matters of pickpocketing or purse-snatching. The rest amounted to other petty crimes like fraud and forgery -- committed not by kleptomaniacal nuns but by a handful of black sheep among the 18 million pilgrims and tourists who visit St. Peter's Cathedral, St. Peter's Square and the Vatican Museums every year.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Probably because the criminals know the Pope will forgive them.
"In a population of 492, that measures out to 1.5 cases per person"(!)
Except that it would seem that it is foreign visitors who are perpetrating the crimes.
Reminds me of the 51% of women are not married statistic that includes unmarried girls from age 15 up.
>>Except that it would seem that it is foreign visitors who are perpetrating the crimes.
Hey, just immigrants doing the jobs the local populace won't do..
Nice slap at the Pope, the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church!
Most petty criminals know that tourists are ideal targets for pickpockets and purse-snatchers. They tend to carry more cash and/or credit cards and are less likely to be available as witnesses for a trial. Any touristy area has lots of this type of thing and I would be willing to bet that Vatican City does a better job than most at policing it.
The headline is absurd.
If they would provide better social services such as free education and medical benefits the crime rate would drop.
Midnight basketball would surely keep the inner-city youths off the Vatican Streets.
The article seems to either bury or not even address the fact that while Vatican City only has a few hundred residents, there are many days when there are well over 100,000 people crammed into St. Peter's Square. Aside from being the seat of the Church, the Vatican is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Europe and the fact that it is so small compounds things.
The FACT is that nearly 20 million people a year pass through Vatican City and less than 500 crimes are reported, that is possibly one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
Almost all the crimes are committed by gypsies. None of them are "citizens" of the Vatican. They just know that Vatican City is full of rich tourists--perfect targets. When I was there, a gypsy woman came up to me under the pretense of begging. She was also rifling through my jacket pocket until my wife caught her.
Egg-Zactly!
not credible.
St Peters...is not a cathedral
Leftist liars! (...or is that being redundant?) They know their math should be applied to "..the 18 million pilgrims and tourists who visit...". Over 365 days that obviously means the population on the average day is 50,000 with barely 1 criminal case a day.
I wonder if these Leftist cowards will do an article on crime in Mecca? Or would that be sticking their NECKS out too far?
Pickpockets are such an international concern. How can the world continue on with such a horrible crime going on in it? And it's all the popes fault, and the Church of course.
Never mind the honor killings, the ethinic cleanzing, extermination of Christians and Jews in Islamic countries, beheadings, amputations etc. There are pick pockets in St peter's square.
And I'll bet they aren't Christians either. Too bad they didn't give a profile of who they were and where they were from. I'll bet revealing those facts would cause and uproar among the followers of the ROP.
You won't find any jihad being waged in Mecca. The Islamic supremacist city is "clean" of kufir.
It is illegal for a publication to engage in blasphemy against Islam.
They do. It's the best in the world. Mind you, they all work for the same employer in that country...
A visit to Rome is a visit to the pickpocketing capital of the world. The subway system is a nightmare with all kinds of outlandish ploys to distract tourists - we stand out don't you know - and then dip their pocketbooks, wallets, shoppping bags, etc. My experience is that it definitely was not foreigners per se, but gangs of local gypsies who seem to have created their own mini-professional association.
Gypsies, tramps, and thieves
We'd hear it from the people of the town
They'd call us
Gypsies, tramps, and thieves
But every night
All the men would come around
And lay their money down . . .
I don't think the writer was really agreeing with the premise -- they were making a point about how statistics can be misleading.
Exactly. The statistics are badly skewed. Although fewer than 500 people have the Vatican as their primary residence, numerous cardinals, priests, office workers, librarians and other work there. And tens of thousands of visitors, both thieves and victims, crowd the Vatican every day.
That makes complete nonsense out of these statistics. Or do they think the Pope is a pickpocket?
Of course there is Jihad going on in Mecca. Jihad - for the betterment and advancement of Allah's cause. It's just not the type of Jihad you are used to seeing and reading about. Jihad has many forms. Mecca is a great meeting place for terrorists planning attacks on us infidels. Money changes hands, deals are made, plans are finalized, connections are made etc.
Mecca is also the slave trade capital of Saudi Arabia.
Mecca is the symbolic center of all evil-er Islam, it's like what the Vatican is to Christianity.
Are you gay?
Why would that song be in your head, and that pic on your PC?
/s <---
The major tourist areas in Europe are known for pickpockets. I have a feeling that if they were to give the statistics for certain parts of major tourist cities (around the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Colisseum, etc.) or say Times Square on New Year's Eve, five hundred crimes would seem like nothing.
Tourists in Europe should always take precautions against petty crimes and there is no reason to think that the Vatican would be any different. I noticed that there do not seem to be any reports of violent crimes in Vatican City.
That's for sure. Wear a good money belt, and leave everything else important in the hotel safe while you are out site seeing. The Vatican is worth seeing though. Of all the trips I've taken, that is one that excites the soul.
that is what sitting on your ass will get you, you can't just pray it away
God gave us the ability to get physical when need be, and IMO, He means for us to do that
My comment was directed to the author of the article (and the headline), not at you. Sorry if I was not as clear as I should have been!
". . .it would seem that it is foreign visitors who are perpetrating the crimes."
You mean Vatican City has a worse problem with aliens than the United States? Wow!
The only two times anyone's ever tried to pick my pocket happened on the Rome subway.The first attempt was successful (a gypsy standing next to me) and the other one failed...I put my hand in my pocket only to find myself holding hands with the ugliest (gypsy) woman you can imagine.
I understood my friend :)
There are lots of St. Peter's Cathedrals elsewhere:
Catholic ones: Wilmington, Del.; Belleville, Ill.; London, Ontario...
Anglican/Episcopalian ones: St. Petersburg, Fla.; Adelaide, South Australia...
Yep. My Dad caught a gypsy red handed trying to steal his camera. He said the Italians warned him to be careful on the tourist routes to the Vatican precisely because of the gypsys.
The one's we ran into were carrying babies or what looked like babies. These were camouflage so that you could not see their hands.
Of course it is.
No one ever accused the diseased perverts who troll for this sort of article to be rational or logical.
"Everyone knows that abortion helps keep the crime rate down."
It has been shown to.
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