The swift reaction of Italy's Bishop Rodolfo Cetoloni and the Vatican gendarmerie saved a 56-year-old Italian woman who was threatening to commit suicide.

Officials from the Diocese of Grosseto confirmed to CNA that on Jan. 16 that the woman, whose identity has not been made public, called Grosseto's Bishop Cetoloni on the phone and told him she wanted to take her own life.

The woman traveled from her home in Scarlino, a town of 4,000 inhabitants in the Tuscan province of Grosseto, to Rome. She intended to commit suicide at the Vatican, the Italian newspaper Il Tirreno reported.

After the phone call, Bishop Cetoloni immediately contacted the Vatican gendarmerie, the Holy See's police force, which worked together with police in Grosseto to develop a plan to stop the potential suicide.

Police traced the woman's cell phone and were able to determine her location. They rescued her when she arrived in Rome.