We took down Vatican website: Hacker group

ROME, ITALY: Vatican could not confirm whether site crash was result of hacker hit; Anonymous: Action represents attack on Roman Catholic Church's conservative doctrine.

Get Haaretz on iPhone Get Haaretz on Android The Italian branch of the hackers group Anonymous took down the Vatican's website on Wednesday, saying it was an attack on the Roman Catholic Church's scandals and conservative doctrine.

The Vatican website www.vatican.va was inaccessible. A spokesman said he could not confirm that the crash was the work of the hackers group but said technicians were working to bring it back up.

A statement on the Italian website of the loosely-knit cyber-activists group accused the Church of being responsible for a long list of misdeeds throughout history, including the selling of indulgences in the 16th century and burning heretics during the Inquisition.