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A gendarme from the Vatican's security forces stops a Ukrainian feminist group Femen activist after she snatched the statue of Baby Jesus from the Nativity scene set in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Dec. 25, 2014.
AP

The Vatican has released a Ukrainian activist who stole a replica of baby Jesus from St. Peter’s Square Nativity scene while topless on Christmas day.

Iana Zhdanova was freed Saturday after being seen by a Vatican prosecutor, according to the Associated Press. She has been ordered never to set foot in Vatican City or on any Vatican property outside of the city-state again.

Zhdanova reportedly had the words “God is a Woman” written on her chest when she snatched the statue from St. Peter’s Square. Vatican police swiftly arrested Zhdanova, who is a member of the feminist group FEMEN.

According to FEMEN’s website, her protest was a part of their “Massacre of the Innocents” anticlerical campaign, which criticizes “the senturies-old Vatican stance on women’s rights for own body and reproductive function.”

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