Vatican releases protester who took Baby Jesus from St Peter's crib

A young Ukrainian woman from feminist group Femen, who snatched the Baby Jesus figure from the St Peter’s Square Nativity scene on Christmas day, was released by Vatican security yesterday.

The woman, Iana Aleksandrovna Azhdanova, who was naked from the waist up, sporting the message 'God is Woman' on her chest, climbed over the barrier in front of thousands of pilgrims and grabbed the figure from the crib. She was swiftly apprehended by Vatican police and taken into custody.

Fr Federico Lombardi told press the nature of her protest “must be regarded as extremely serious due to the setting and circumstances that intentionally offend the religious sentiments of a very large number of people.”

Yesterday the Vatican said Azhdanova was being released without charge but would be banned from entering St Peter's Square and the entire Vatican City in future.

On Boxing Day, Italian businessman Marcello di Finizio, was arrested for scaling the facade of St Peter’s Basilica in protest at a European Union directive which he said will put his holiday resort in Trieste out of business. This was his fifth attempt to climb St Peter's.

The Vatican, which has the option of trying transgressors on its territory, or expelling them to Italian courts is still holding di Finizio in custody.