Vatican Raises Hell Over Short Skirts

The Vatican's Swiss Guards' strenuous crackdown on "immodest" dress in the wake of a host of shocking pedophile scandals against Catholic clerics has left tourists aghast. The flamboyantly clothed guards, in puffy gold-and-blue-striped uniforms and plumed head coverings, are pulling aside women in sleeveless tops or short skirts and men in shorts to tell them they're not dressed properly. Tourists have long been expected to dress modestly in St. Peter's Basilica, but the stricter dress code seems to have been extended suddenly throughout Vatican City.

The strictures also include Romans using the Vatican pharmacy, supermarket and post office, reports the Telegraph. "Given all the scandals the church has been involved in, what possible right can it have to be preaching about the morality of sleeveless dresses?" asked one outraged woman in her 70s. (More Vatican stories.)