Hacker Group Anonymous Takes Down the Vatican's Web Site

Infamous hacking group Anonymous is continuing its war on religion. Just days ago, some of the individuals behind the secretive group called religion a "sickness" and took over the web sites of three Christian churches in North Carolina.

On Wednesday, the organization continued its quest and took down the Vatican's web site -- just one day after some of its leaders were arrested in a highly-publicized bust.

(Related: Anonymous Hacks Church Web Sites to Post Dawkins Video & Declare War on Christianity)

The New York Post has more about the latest faith attack on the Catholic Church:

"Anonymous decided today to besiege your site in response to the doctrine, to the liturgies, to the absurd and anachronistic concepts that your for-profit organization spreads around the world," the hackers said in a statement.

"This attack is not against the Christian religion or the faithful around the world but against the corrupt Roman Apostolic Church," said the statement, posted on the Italian-language version of the Anonymous website.

Anonymous tried and failed to attack the Vatican website last year.

Reuters continues:

The Vatican website www.vatican.va was inaccessible. A spokesman said he could not confirm that the crash was the work of the hackers group but said technicians were working to bring it back up.

A statement on the Italian website of the loosely-knit cyber-activists group accused the Church of being responsible for a long list of misdeeds throughout history, including the selling of indulgences in the 16th century and burning heretics during the Inquisition.

This explanation from the hackers is particularly interesting, because it claims that this specific attack is "not against the Christian religion." This is at least the fourth attack to be waged on a Christian web site, causing some to wonder if this is a war that is more centered upon Christianity than any other faith.

It is also important to note, though, that Anonymous also took credit on Sunday for taking down the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) web site. The group also issued a video calling the pro-Israel organization the "enemy" (see above).

As of 1 p.m. ET, the Vatican web site was still down.

This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.