Sister Fiorella at the Gate

Every summer, much to the Vatican's distress, the package tours that descend on St. Peter's Basilica seem to be more scantily packaged than ever. For years, grim-faced men were posted at the doors to tell the women and girls who arrived in minis or skimpy dresses that they were "indecently dressed."* After the poor fellows absorbed innumerable punches from outraged husbands and fathers, however, the Vatican was ready to try something new--particularly with hot pants and the no-bra look in vogue.

Last June the Holy See unveiled its own new look in guards: a nononsense, black-robed nun named Sister Fiorella. The stern, fortyish sister was installed as Chief Censor on the steps of the Basilica on the theory that a nun might be fairly safe from assault by irate tourists. Before long, the question was: Was anyone safe from Sister Fiorella? Newspapers nicknamed her "The Terrible Nun," and she did her best to live up to the sobriquet. She turned away as many as 35 women a minute during peak periods (up to 2,000 a day), usually with a wave of the finger but sometimes by sprinting into the church to nab offenders who were brazen enough to try to slip past her.

Alas, the flood of what Pope Paul calls "immodest fashion" was too much for Sister Fiorella. She disappeared from St. Peter's last week--a casualty, the Vatican announced, of "nervous depression." A novice nun has replaced her.

* Meaning bare skin, not bare heads. The Vatican no longer requires that women cover their hair in church.

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