On the morning of August 18, 2022, Ester Goffi, 26, and Guido Viero, 61, superglued their hands to the marble base holding Laocoön and His Sons, an ancient marble sculpture on display.
The movement said it would appeal against the ruling, in which protestors Viero and Goffi were ordered to pay a total of more than €3000 (A$4800) in fines and €28,000 (A$44,600) in damages for their actions.
Pope Francis has repeatedly told the international community to address the climate crisis, and recently called for an end to the “senseless war against creation”.
“The Vatican, one of the world’s last absolute monarchies, has shown all of its hypocrisy with this punishment,” UG, which has staged a series of controversial headline-grabbing climate protests over the last 18 months, said in a statement.
It said the sentence was “out of proportion and absurd” given that only “a few drops of glue” had been put on the marble pedestal under the statue, stressing that Goffi and Viero were simply aiming to highlight an issue that the pope preaches and writes about himself.
In a Tweet after the conviction, the group said: “The sentence today in Vatican City: 9 months in prison for one gram of glue. An exaggerated sentence that does not want to recognize the dramatic nature of the situation that motivates all our protests”.
Ultima Generazione is soliciting donations to help Viero and Goffi pay their personal legal fees and fines.
On May 26 the Vatican condemned so-called ‘eco-vandalism’ targetting cultural heritage in a document on tourism by Rino Fisichella, the Pro-prefect for New Evangelization.
ANSA
