The Corpus Delicti: The Baby Jesus Becomes The Focus of Holiday Heists Around The Golde

A feminist activist from the extremist group Femen ran onto the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Monday and tried to steal the baby Jesus.  The woman screaming “God is woman” was tackled by Vatican gendarme.  The group identified the culprit as Alisa Vinogradova and proudly declared her to be a “sextremist”. This is not the only effort his season to “jack” Jesus.  These cases represent a convergence of the Corpus delicti and the Corpus Christi.

It is not clear if there is a Vatican crime other than trespass and disturbing the peace.  As a city state, the Vatican has its own courts and police but no jails (though it has some cells).  Under Article 22 of the 1929 Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and Italy, the Holy See can request  prosecution and detention of criminal suspects, at the expense of the Vatican. Defendants sentenced to imprisonment by the Vatican serve time in Italian prisons at the expense of the Vatican.

This is part of a rash of baby Jesus snatching:

In Dandridge, Tenn., the annual Christmas show was interrupted when Teegan Benson, 2, stole the baby Jesus from the manger. As recorded on another viral video, she was then stopped by her friend, Collia Weems, 3, who was playing Mary. The struggle over the baby Jesus left both crying as Collia declared, “Teegan jacked the baby Jesus, I had to jack him back.”  Whatever assault occurred was forgiven in the interests of holiday cheer, and the play was enhanced by plot twist that was a combination of “Taken” and “A Christmas Story.”