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Under the new ruling, Vatican workers will no longer be allowed to have visible tattoos (Bigstock)

The Vatican has banned workers at St Peter’s Basilica from having visible tattoos or body piercings to maintain “decorum”. Source: Sight Magazine.

The new regulation, published at the weekend, applies to the about 170 lay employees of the Fabbrica di San Pietro (The Fabric of St Peter), the department in charge of the basilica.

Fr Enzo Fortunato, head of communications for the basilica, told Reuters on Monday that it codifies norms that “have been in place in the past in a different form”.

However, he denied Italian press reports indicating that lay people in unmarried relationships would also be banned from working at the Fabbrica di San Pietro, dismissing the reports as “gossip”.

The regulation states that staff must have “an exemplary religious and moral conduct, including in private and family life, in conformity with the doctrine of the Church”.

FULL STORY

Vatican bans tattoos and body piercings for St Peter’s Basilica workers (Reuters via Sight Magazine)

RELATED COVERAGE

No tattoos or piercings: New rules for Vatican employees (Catholic World Report)

Pope who once advised learning from tattoos bans them in the Vatican (Crux)