Update: The Vatican website was back up and running at about 7 p.m. Wednesday
ROME, Italy, March 7, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hackers claiming ties to the high profile group Anonymous are taking credit after the Vatican website went down Wednesday, claiming they are going after the “corrupt” Catholic Church over the clergy sex abuse scandal as well as its stances against abortion and contraception.
“Anonymous decided today to besiege your site in response to the doctrine, to the liturgies, to the absurd and anachronistic concepts that your for-profit organization spreads around the world,” the hackers wrote in Italian.
“This attack is not against the Christian religion or the faithful around the world but against the corrupt Roman Apostolic Church,” it added.
The statement also includes a laundry list of other complaints going back centuries, including Catholics’ involvement in burning books and executing heretics during the Inquisition.
Anonymous hackers had failed in an attempt to take down the Vatican’s website in August.
The Vatican has not confirmed the involvement of hackers in Wednesday’s crash, merely stating that it was due to a “technical problem.”
On Tuesday, five alleged hackers purportedly associated with Anonymous were arrested in Britain, Ireland, and the United States after an Anonymous leader shared information with the FBI.