A man doused his body with gasoline and set himself on fire in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City this morning, officials said.

The motive behind the self-immolation is not yet known, except that the unnamed man carried a piece of paper with the phone number of his daughter.

The 51-year-old man was ablaze in the square when a passing Jesuit priest ran to his aid to smother the flames with a jacket.

The priest was later joined by two police officers who used a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.

The unnamed man was treated at a nearby hospital and transferred to a larger one, with serious burns to the upper part of his body.

The attack took place the day after Pope Francis held his final public audience of the year in St Peter’s Square.

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