According to law enforcement agencies, in 2006 the state's Ministry of Justice investigated 341 civil and 486 criminal cases. This is despite the fact that the total population of the smallest country on the planet is 492 people. Thus, each resident of the Vatican accounts for approximately one and a half criminal incidents - this is 20 times higher than the average in Italy, and 33 times higher than, for example, in Russia, where, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, one registered crime occurs for approximately every 50 Russians.
The main crimes in the Vatican, which is visited by about 50 thousand tourists daily, are fraud, pickpocketing, and bag theft. True, the Attorney General's office particularly emphasizes that almost all of them are committed by foreigners. At the same time, 90% of violations go unpunished, but not out of mercy, but because the thieves easily cross the border and effectively find themselves in another state - Italy. Even the Swiss Guard, which protects the Holy See (one Swiss for every four residents of the country), and the carabinieri, whom Italy provides to guard the museums, cannot cope with the crime. However, even if all criminals were caught, there would still be nowhere to detain them, as there are no prisons in the Vatican.
As Der Spiegel notes, dishonest foreigners still have something sacred. For example, in April 2005, when Pope John Paul II was dying and about 6 million pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, not a single case of theft was registered.