VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Italian police arrested at least nine people in what officials described as a terrorist cell that had planned, in 2010, to strike at the Vatican with a suicide bomber.

A few hours after the police in Cagliari announced the arrests, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the planned attack on the Vatican was “a hypothesis going back to 2010, one which did not take place.”

The threat did not appear to be ongoing, he said, therefore it was not “a reason for particular concern.”

DIGOS, the Italian police division that investigates terrorism and organized crime, arrested eight Pakistanis and an Afghani in seven Italian provinces April 24. They were still looking for three more suspects.

Mauro Mura, chief prosecutor in Cagliari, told reporters that DIGOS agents had arrested the spiritual leader of the terrorist cell, which was believed to have ties to al-Qaida.

The Italian investigation dates to 2005 and included telephone wiretaps of conversations that led to the theory of a plan in 2010 to strike the Vatican using a suicide bomber from Pakistan. The man apparently is no longer in Italy.

Meanwhile, Crux reports that “the Vatican’s top diplomat said Friday that while there’s genuine ‘fear’ about the possibility of a terrorist attack against the pope, there’s also a danger of what he called an ‘exaggerated preoccupation’ with that prospect.”

The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said, “[The] pope is calm,” adding that authorities “need to be alert” because the threats are real.

“[Francis] moves around with a lot of freedom, and this shows that he addresses these situations with great clarity and serenity,” Parolin said.

Contributing to this report was Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service’s Vatican bureau.