A MAN HAS been arrested after a car was driven through a Vatican gate and sped past Swiss Guards into a palace courtyard.

Vatican gendarmes fired a shot at the speeding car’s front tyres after it rushed the gate, but the vehicle managed to continue on its way, the Vatican press office said in a statement last night.

Once the car reached the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, the driver got out and was immediately arrested by Vatican gendarmes.

The Vatican said the driver was about 40 years old and was in a serious state of psychophysical alteration.

It was not clear if Pope Francis was anywhere near the incident, which occurred after 8pm at the Santa Anna gate, one of the main entrances to the Vatican City State in the heart of Rome.

Francis lives on the other side of Vatican City at the Santa Marta hotel, where at that hour he would normally be having dinner and retiring to his room.

The incident was a rare incursion into the city state, much of which is off limits to the general public, especially at night.

While visitors can access St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums during business hours, and people with doctors’ prescriptions can go to the Vatican pharmacy, permission is required to get into other buildings in the enclave.

The Apostolic Palace, which houses the papal apartments, key reception rooms and offices, is guarded around the clock by Swiss Guards and gendarmes who man various checkpoints.