WI: A terrorist attack on the Funeral of Pope John Paul II.

On April 2, 2005, was the funeral of His Holiness Pope John Paul II. Many dignitaries and heads of state attended the funeral. In fact it is believed to be the largest gathering of government officials/representatives/leaders outside of the United Nations. It is also believed to be the largest single gathering of Christians in history (with over four million Christians gathering in Rome to mourn the Pope's passing). Because of this, the funeral had all sorts of security measures (Swiss Guard, Rome Police Dept., Secret Service, etc).

However, what if a terrorist organization (Perhaps Al-Queda, but it could be anything) managed to sneak a bomb into the funeral?

Scenario A: A bomb is somehow palced within the church, where the congregation is sitting.

Scenario B: Suicide bombers or small bombs are placed outside the church, where worshippers were gathering (also the closest non-VIP were allowed to the funeral).

Scenario C: A nuclear weapon goes off near the Vatican.

I know that this is a borderline ASB scenario, but what if?

Here is a list of dignitaries who were attending the funeral.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dignitaries_at_the_funeral_of_Pope_John_Paul_II
 
Whatever terrorist group was all ten kinds of stupid to pull off an attack like this would be hunted down and exterminated. Sure they would cause terror, but the ammount of disproportionate retribution coming their way would not be worth it.
 
The funeral was six days after he died. I don't see how they could have organised this in that little time.

Well, JPs death wasnt all that sudden. Everyone saw that he was dying.

Let us pretend its ALqaida

Scenario A and B angers every catholic and the police(i belive the police would have managed to take out a suicide squad).

Scenario C show that OBL have nukes. If he then makes a speach bragging about this then the Catholic world will go into crusade mode. Muslims in Italy will be targeted by other italians. Since the goverment is gone then italians lack any authorities to protect minorities. With Rome gone is quite possible that Italy splits between north and south.
 
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