# Why has the Vatican not (yet) been struck by terrorist activities? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2017, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620 "2017-04-17T12:03:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/41 "2017-04-20T00:38:36Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Perhaps they are going alphabetically? And Zambia breathes easy for another day. ---
**Author:** ![Beren\_Erchamion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90ced4/32.png) [@Beren\_Erchamion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beren_Erchamion)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/42 "2017-04-20T00:53:38Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Going further they are at war with the concept of freedom. Ha. Hahahaha. Hahahahahahahahahahachortlehahahahaheheheheeeheeeheeeeheeehehhahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahohohohhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Thanks, I haven’t laughed like that in ages, I needed it! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/43 "2017-04-20T07:18:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Not sure I’d label the RCC as fundamentalist, but it \*is \*a funny joke. Bravo. > > Maybe arch-traditionalist would be better than fundamentalist. You’re some 50 years late at least. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/44 "2017-04-20T12:35:46Z")
An obvious answer would be that terrorists are targeting specific countries (their leaders and their population) who they perceive as threats, and not Christianity as a whole. Also, the average American doesn’t understand the difference between Sunni and Shia, but that doesn’t mean the average Arab doesn’t understand the difference between Catholics and Protestants. I grew up in Japan and even I understood from an early age that the Vatican wasn’t the seat of all Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/45 "2017-04-20T12:39:12Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Why doesn’t fundamentalist islam attack fundamentalist christian? > Professional courtesy. I wonder if there’s some truth to that. It’s well known that religious Americans are more suspicious of atheists than of believers of other faiths. Is it possible that terrorists think of their targets as godless heathens, but think more highly of devout Christians? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/46 "2017-04-20T13:32:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Hah??? Paris, Madrid and London are “completely contained within” their respective countries. Unless you think the Swiss Guards are some super-deterrent, being “completely contained” within Italy isn’t going to help. Nobody wants to mess with those Swiss Guards, they have really fancy knives. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/47 "2017-04-20T14:37:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Terrorists don’t just kill people at random. They choose targets for a reason. What reason are terrorists going to have for attacking the Vatican? The Vatican isn’t occupying any other country; it doesn’t have any regions that are trying to secede; there’s no movement calling for a regime change. > [@scr4](#): > > An obvious answer would be that terrorists are targeting specific countries (their leaders and their population) who they perceive as threats, and not Christianity as a whole. For example, following up on **Little Nemo** ’s observation - one could imagine terrorists targeting, say, a major Russian Orthodox holy place… but that would be as a way to hit _at Russia_ rather than doctrinally at Eastern Orthodoxy. Islamoradical terrorists in Egypt target Coptic churches as a way to show the established regime can’t protect its minorities, and because they view nonmuslim minorities as regime collaborators. In the West, though, both political and religious-fundamentalist terrorists believe our dominant religion is money and secure, easy lifestyles so when not attacking government centers they attack transport hubs, media/business centers, vacation locations, nightlife spots. As to a terrorist organization hitting at the Vatican for the sake of hitting at the Vatican… Well, maybe some radicalized lone-wolf type, sure, but a big elaborate hit at the Vatican of the sort that needs high level organization and financing would only get to alienate billions of people who may have lent a sympathetic ear to the “freedom fighters” before. Very bad Return On Investment. Specifically WRT Islamoterrorists, what ISTM their way is to Christians or other religious minorities _within the Muslim nations themselves_, as part of a use of sectarian violence to eliminate potential dissenters and real or apparent allies of secularism/westernism, and that includes people who are the “wrong” brand of Muslim (e.g. Al-Q and IS blowing up Shiite holy places). They do not have a pattern of reaching out to attack the other religions on purely sectarian grounds outside their own space. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/48 "2017-04-20T14:43:09Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > In the West, though, both political and religious-fundamentalist terrorists believe our dominant religion is money and secure, easy lifestyles so when not attacking government centers they attack transport hubs, media/business centers, vacation locations, nightlife spots. Western political terrorists often belong to the local dominant religion or, if to a specific brand of it, know they’d be getting Hell from their own priests if they attacked the other brand’s temples. When that breaks up we get Kosovo. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/49 "2017-04-20T15:02:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Nobody wants to mess with those Swiss Guards, they have really fancy knives. Their unique form of hand to hand combat, the fearsome _Pinzettemitzahnstockerundkorkenzeiherkampfwerkenheit_ is extremely effective and utterly silent. Few survive their blindingly fast slashing assault with both toothpick \*and \*tweezers, followed by the corkscrew for the _coup de grace_. Oh the humanity! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/50 "2017-04-20T15:12:19Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The subject line pretty much sums it up. > > Vatican City is the seat of Catholicism, but in the eyes of most of the non-Christian world, I suspect it represents _all_ of Christianity, so it seems like it would be an extremely attractive target for ISIS and those inspired by them. > > There have been a number of terrorist attacks in Europe in recent years, ranging from trucks mowing down crowds of people to bombs in the Brussels airport. So why haven’t we yet seen an attack on/in Vatican City? Is their border security really amazing? Is the security at the borders of Italy (which completely encompasses VC) really amazing? There are some placed in the world that are scared, and attack on any one of them would trigger an counter attack on the offending nation or group where multiple nations join in. ISIS, and groups like them know better. The Vatican City also has its own security. Disney World has fantastic security, with people walking around as tourists with hidden guns, cameras, attack dogs, underground forces, and such…YOU JUST DON’T see them as security. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/51 "2017-04-20T16:15:09Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > There are some placed in the world that are scared, and attack on any one of them would trigger an counter attack on the offending nation or group where multiple nations join in. We’re all scared, but the Vatican is also _sacred_. And yes, that’s why they won’t do it, they want to sow division in the western world, an attack on the Vatican would unite their enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/52 "2017-04-20T19:11:49Z")
Back in the day of big outside organized attacks in the West (often by Al Qaeda) there was also a ‘big message’ and it seemed to typically focus on ‘temples’ of Western secularlism as seen by the radicals, like the WTC, airline travel etc. The big picture jihadi’s haven’t typically been very focused on Christianity per se as to their direct struggle with the West. And since those are the groups most likely to attempt some big attack on the Pope or Vatican that would seem the explanation why it hasn’t been attempted. When it comes to lone actors and their smaller attacks Christian institutions might be targeted depending how those particular attackers feel, like the murder of a priest in France last year by local IS inspired radicals. [France church attack: Priest killed by two 'IS militants' - BBC News](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36892785) Then as was mentioned, at least some radical Islamists definitely see Christianity as an enemy in their own countries, and often attack churches, along with the places of worship of rival Islamic sects and religious minorities who aren’t Islamic or Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/53 "2017-04-21T05:11:30Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > But of be weird for them to be in Vatican City. Few people are allowed there. > > It’s not off the table, and I’m just guessing. But these do seem like reasonable issues to me. I get that you’re just guessing, but you are so wrong it’s not even funny or helpful. [Few people are allowed?](http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/31/archbishop-of-canterbury-criticises-britains-naive-hero-complex-3566440/) Every Easter and Christmas will have a crowd like this. The other sites in Italy get massive tourism, to be sure, but I can’t think of any to draw a crowd this size at one time on a specific date. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/54 "2017-04-21T05:46:35Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > No there isn’t. First, Vatican City isn’t completely surrounded by any walls . This keeps popping up, and I don’t know where Dopers are getting this idea. Your random amusement park has bigger walls than Vatican city. And yes, there’s a lot of security, but I am sure that it also has to do with the fact that square inch by square inch, these are some of the most valuable city blocks in the world. And yeah, the Swiss Guard strikes fear at the sole sight of their colorful pantaloons. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/55 "2017-04-21T05:58:24Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > My WAGs is they are not at war with Christianity, they are at war with infidels. > > Going further they are at war with the concept of freedom. No, that was something Bush claimed and he’s not a spokesman for the terrorists. Al Qaeda was always clear on what their goal was: they wanted troops from non-Muslim countries to be withdrawn from what they considered to be Muslim territory. They were targeting the United States because there are American troops stationed in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Yemen (and later Afghanistan and Iraq). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/56 "2017-04-21T06:09:00Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > And yeah, the Swiss Guard strikes fear at the sole sight of their colorful pantaloons. 🙂 That’s their “tourist photo op” uniform. [Here’s their “no touching the pope” uniform.](http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/uploads/3/7/2/7/37277491/6626230_orig.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/57 "2017-04-22T07:21:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s their “tourist photo op” uniform. > > [Here’s their “no touching the pope” uniform.](http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/uploads/3/7/2/7/37277491/6626230_orig.jpg) 😕 WHy does he have a Turkish flag on his uniform? You sure you have not mixed that up with local security? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/58 "2017-04-22T07:28:16Z")
The Swiss Guards in that pic are the suits with red ties. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620/59 "2017-04-22T07:57:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s their “tourist photo op” uniform. > > [Here’s their “no touching the pope” uniform.](http://www.grandvoyageitaly.com/uploads/3/7/2/7/37277491/6626230_orig.jpg) It was a joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-vatican-not-yet-been-struck-by-terrorist-activities/784620.md?page=2)