Members of hacktivist organisation Anonymous are protesting Catholic doctrine and the sexual abuse of children by taking down the Vatican’s website, ‘The Holy See’.

The Vatican’s website (www.vatican.va) was intermittently down between Wednesday afternoon and evening.

The attack was confirmed by the Vatican’s spokesperson, Reverend Federico Lombardi, who chose not to comment on the source of the attack.

According to USA daily, the group was motivated by the execution of heretics, the book burnings during the inquisition and the recent string of priests who sexually abused children.

This is the second hack that has happened to the Catholic Church as its World Youth Day website was hacked on August 18th. At the time the catholic youth festival was kicking-off in Madrid, Spain.

It is difficult to verify statements purported by Anonymous as the hacktivist group is amorphous in nature. One Anonymous member describes the group as a hydra: a mythological dragon like creature that grows additional heads every time one is cut off.

“Anonymous is a hydra, cut off one head and we grow two back.”

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The tweet was in response to the finding that a Lulzsec hacker turned FBI informant yesterday, incriminating several members of the hacking fraternity.