# BeaverCheck Audit Report — https://vatican.va

**Date:** April 21, 2026  
**URL:** https://vatican.va  
**Overall Grade:** C (70/100)  
**Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/f6cbcefd-122e-4625-ad9e-317d349007b2

## Top Findings

1. **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — Security > Security Headers
2. **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — Security > Content Security Policy
3. **[CRITICAL]** Page weighs 13.0 MB (6.1 MB transferred) — Performance > Page Weight Budget
4. **[CRITICAL]** 1 control(s) without accessible label — Accessibility > Form Accessibility
5. **[CRITICAL]** 4 button(s) with no accessible text — Accessibility > Link & Button Quality

---

## Lighthouse Scores

| Category | Score |
|----------|-------|
| Performance | 35 |
| Accessibility | 85 |
| Best Practices | 73 |
| SEO | 100 |

---

## Security

### Security Headers (D — 40/100)

*4 of 10 headers properly configured*

- **[WARNING]** HSTS max-age is too short (15768000s, should be ≥ 31536000s) — A short max-age leaves a window for downgrade attacks. Set max-age to at least 31536000 (1 year).
- **[PASS]** X-Content-Type-Options is properly configured
- **[PASS]** X-Frame-Options is properly configured
- **[WARNING]** Referrer-Policy header is missing — Controls how much referrer information is sent with requests. Set to 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' or stricter.
- **[WARNING]** Permissions-Policy header is missing — Controls which browser features (camera, microphone, geolocation) are allowed. Set it to restrict unused features.
- **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — CSP is the most important header for preventing XSS attacks. See the CSP section for detailed analysis.
- **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy header is missing — COOP isolates your browsing context, preventing cross-origin side-channel attacks. Set to 'same-origin'.
- **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy header is missing — COEP prevents loading cross-origin resources without explicit permission. Required for SharedArrayBuffer and high-resolution timers.
- **[PASS]** X-Powered-By header is not present
- **[PASS]** Server header is present without version info

### Content Security Policy (F — 0/100)

*No enforcing CSP policy found*

- **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — CSP is the most effective defense against XSS attacks. Add a Content-Security-Policy header to restrict resource loading.

### TLS & Certificates (A+ — 100/100)

*TLS 1.3, 7 checks passed*

- **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 is used
- **[PASS]** Strong cipher suite is used
- **[INFO]** HTTP/2 is not negotiated — HTTP/2 provides multiplexing and header compression for better performance.
- **[PASS]** Certificate is valid (expires in 169 days)
- **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 3 certificates
- **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm
- **[PASS]** Certificate covers 6 domain(s)
- **[PASS]** Certificate is issued by a trusted CA

### Cookie Security (A+ — 100/100)

*No cookies set — no cookie security risks*

- **[PASS]** No cookies set — no cookie security risks

---

## Advanced Security

### Subresource Integrity (F — 20/100)

*0 of 6 external resources have SRI*

- **[WARNING]** External script from www.googletagmanager.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from www.googletagmanager.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External link from cdn.jsdelivr.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from cdn.jsdelivr.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External link from cdn.jsdelivr.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.
- **[WARNING]** External script from cdn.jsdelivr.net lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code.

### JS Library Vulnerabilities (A+ — 100/100)

*No known vulnerabilities*

- **[PASS]** No known JavaScript library vulnerabilities detected

### Information Leakage (A+ — 100/100)

*No exposures*

- **[INFO]** No security.txt found — Consider adding a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt.
- **[PASS]** No sensitive files exposed

### Email Security (D — 50/100)

*DMARC: none*

- **[WARNING]** DMARC policy is none — monitoring only — This only monitors, it doesn't block spoofed emails. Change to p=quarantine or p=reject.

### Permissions-Policy (D — 40/100)

*No header set*

- **[WARNING]** No Permissions-Policy header — Consider adding a Permissions-Policy header to restrict browser feature access from embedded content.

### CORS Configuration (B — 80/100)

*No CORS headers*

- **[PASS]** No CORS headers present — secure default

---

## Performance

### Page Weight Budget (F — 0/100)

*6.1 MB transferred, 98 requests*

- **[CRITICAL]** Page weighs 13.0 MB (6.1 MB transferred)
- **[WARNING]** Images are 3.0 MB — compress or use modern formats — Convert images to WebP/AVIF and resize to display dimensions to reduce transfer size.
- **[WARNING]** JavaScript is 1.5 MB — consider code splitting or lazy loading — Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts.
- **[INFO]** Fonts are 1.2 MB — consider subsetting or using system fonts — Subset fonts to include only used characters, or switch to system font stacks.
- **[INFO]** CSS is 214 KB — consider purging unused styles — Remove unused CSS rules with tools like PurgeCSS to reduce stylesheet size.
- **[INFO]** 98 HTTP requests
- **[INFO]** Estimated 1.3 g CO2 per page load

### Third-Party Impact (D — 50/100)

*100% third-party, 0 ms blocking*

- **[WARNING]** Third-party code accounts for 100% of page weight (6.1 MiB of 6.1 MiB)
- **[PASS]** Third-party blocking time is low (0 ms)

### Text Compression (A+ — 100/100)

*All text resources are compressed*

- **[PASS]** All text resources are compressed

### Image Optimization (C — 65/100)

*13 images, 0 KB saveable*

- **[WARNING]** https://www.vatican.va/etc/designs/vatican/library... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.
- **[WARNING]** https://www.vatican.va/etc/designs/vatican/library... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS.

### JS Execution Cost (F — 20/100)

*11193ms total JS execution*

- **[WARNING]** https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/swiper@11/swiper-bund...: 3599ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** https://www.vatican.va/etc/clientlibs/granite/jque...: 2539ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html: 1618ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 1141ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** https://www.vatican.va/etc/designs/vatican/library...: 598ms CPU time
- **[WARNING]** Third-party scripts: 10913ms (97% of total)

### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100)

*12 fonts (1279 KB)*

- **[INFO]** 12 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional)

### JS Bundles (F — 20/100)

*32 scripts, 515 KB unused*

- **[WARNING]** https://www.vatican.va/etc/designs/vaticanevents/l...: 91 KB unused (86%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-P8S...: 63 KB unused (54%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-P8S...: 63 KB unused (54%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-CGNT...: 63 KB unused (42%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[WARNING]** https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-CGNT...: 63 KB unused (42%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code.
- **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 515 KB

### Resource Caching (A+ — 100/100)

*All resources properly cached*

- **[PASS]** No caching issues found

### Critical Rendering Path (A+ — 100/100)

*No render-blocking resources*

- **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected

### Resource Hints (A+ — 100/100)

*No optimization needed*

- **[PASS]** No resource hint issues

### Page Weight Inventory (F — 35/100)

*98 resources · 6.1 MB · 515 KB savings available*

- **[WARNING]** Page weight 5.1 MB over 1MB target
- **[INFO]** ~515 KB of savings available
- **[WARNING]** 86 third-party resources (100% of weight)
- **[INFO]** 9 resources over 200KB

### Render-Blocking Resources (A+ — 100/100)

*No render-blocking resources detected*

- **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected in <head>

### Third-Party Resources (A+ — 100/100)

*No third-party resources detected*


---

## Content Quality

### Links (A+ — 100/100)

*200 links checked, 200 healthy, 0 broken*

- **[PASS]** 200 of 200 links are healthy

### Mixed Content (A+ — 100/100)

*No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS.*

- **[PASS]** No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS

### Open Graph (C — 75/100)

*Open Graph tags are partially configured — some improvements recommended.*

- **[WARNING]** Missing og:image — The og:image tag provides a preview image for social sharing.
- **[INFO]** og:title is short (12 characters) — Ideal length is 25–60 characters for social sharing previews.
- **[INFO]** og:description is long (363 characters) — Descriptions over 200 characters may be truncated in social sharing previews.
- **[INFO]** Missing og:site_name — The og:site_name tag displays the website name in social previews.
- **[INFO]** Missing twitter:card — Without twitter:card, Twitter falls back to Open Graph tags. Adding it gives you more control.

### Structured Data (C — 40/100)

*No structured data (JSON-LD) found.*

- **[INFO]** No structured data (JSON-LD) found — Adding structured data helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results.

---

## Infrastructure

### DNS Records (A — 85/100)

*1 A records, 215 ms lookup*

- **[PASS]** Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
- **[INFO]** Single A record — no DNS redundancy — Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.
- **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records
- **[PASS]** 5 nameserver(s) configured
- **[PASS]** 4 mail exchanger(s) configured
- **[INFO]** CAA records not checked — CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update.
- **[PASS]** SPF record present in TXT
- **[WARNING]** DNS resolution is slow (215 ms) — Slow DNS adds latency to every page load. Consider a faster DNS provider.

### Redirect Chain (A+ — 100/100)

*No redirects — direct access*

- **[PASS]** No redirects — direct access

### IPv6 Readiness (C — 60/100)

*No IPv6 support*

- **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records found — IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity.

### Crawlability (B — 80/100)

*robots.txt present, no sitemap*

- **[PASS]** robots.txt is present
- **[INFO]** No sitemap.xml found — A sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.
- **[INFO]** robots.txt does not reference a sitemap — Add a 'Sitemap:' directive to robots.txt so search engines can discover your sitemap.

### URL Variants (D — 50/100)

*www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS*

- **[CRITICAL]** Both www and non-www versions serve content
- **[CRITICAL]** HTTP version does not redirect to HTTPS

### Domain Intelligence

*Domain intelligence data not available*


---

## Compliance

### WCAG Compliance (A+ — 100/100)

*No testable criteria*


### Cookie Consent & Privacy (B — 80/100)

*No consent signals detected*

- **[WARNING]** No privacy policy link detected — A privacy policy page is recommended for transparency and may be legally required.
- **[INFO]** No terms of service link detected
- **[INFO]** No cookie consent banner detected
- **[INFO]** This is an automated check, not legal advice — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators of consent management. This does not constitute a legal compliance assessment. Consult a privacy professional for GDPR/CCPA compliance.

### Language & i18n (A — 90/100)

*Lang attribute present*

- **[PASS]** <html lang> attribute is present
- **[PASS]** <html lang> value is valid
- **[INFO]** No Content-Language HTTP header
- **[INFO]** Language signals are inconsistent — The <html lang> attribute and Content-Language header should agree.

### Readability & Typography (A+ — 100/100)

*Font sizes and tap targets checked*


### Viewport Configuration (A+ — 100/100)

*Viewport properly configured*

- **[PASS]** Viewport meta tag is present
- **[PASS]** width=device-width is set
- **[PASS]** User zooming is allowed

### Third-Party Trackers (C — 55/100)

*3 trackers detected*

- **[INFO]** 3 third-party trackers detected — Found 2 analytics, 0 advertising, 0 marketing, 1 tag manager trackers.
- **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no cookie policy found — This page loads 3 trackers but no cookie policy was detected. GDPR requires disclosure when using tracking cookies.
- **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no privacy policy found — Most data protection regulations require a privacy policy when collecting user data via trackers.

### Cookie & Tracker Inventory (A+ — 100/100)

*0 cookies · 3 trackers · 0 pre-consent*

- **[INFO]** 3 third-party tracker(s) detected on page

---

## Legal

### Legal Page Ecosystem (D — 50/100)

*2 of 7 expected legal pages detected*

- **[PASS]** Privacy Policy detected — Found at /content/vatican/en/privacy-policy.html, linked from footer.
- **[WARNING]** Terms of Service not detected — No link matching common Terms of Service URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Terms of Service, especially those collecting user data.
- **[PASS]** Cookie Policy detected — Found at /content/vatican/en/cookie-policy.html, linked from footer.
- **[INFO]** Accessibility Statement not detected — No link matching common Accessibility Statement URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Accessibility Statement, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** DMCA / Copyright Notice not detected — No link matching common DMCA / Copyright Notice URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a DMCA / Copyright Notice, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Refund / Returns Policy not detected — No link matching common Refund / Returns Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Refund / Returns Policy, especially those collecting user data.
- **[INFO]** Acceptable Use Policy not detected — No link matching common Acceptable Use Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Acceptable Use Policy, especially those collecting user data.

### Copyright Notice (C — 55/100)

*No copyright notice detected*

- **[INFO]** No copyright notice detected — No copyright notice detected in the page content. While not legally required in most jurisdictions (copyright exists automatically), a notice is standard practice and signals site ownership.

### Regulatory Indicators

*1 regulatory indicator(s) detected*

- **[INFO]** This is a technical scan, not a legal assessment — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators that may suggest regulatory relevance. This is not a compliance audit and should not be relied upon for legal decisions. Consult qualified legal counsel for compliance assessments.
- **[INFO]** GDPR indicators detected (moderate confidence) — Indicators suggesting GDPR may be relevant: Privacy policy page found. EU General Data Protection Regulation — governs collection and processing of personal data of EU residents.

### Third-Party Data Sharing

*2 third-party service(s) detected*

- **[INFO]** Data inventory for transparency purposes — This inventory identifies third-party services that receive data from your site visitors. Under regulations like GDPR (Article 30), maintaining records of data processing activities is commonly considered a best practice. This automated scan provides a starting point — it may not capture all data flows.
- **[INFO]** 2 third-party services across 2 categories — 2 third-party services detected across 2 categories: Analytics (1), Tag Management (1). Each of these services receives some user data from your site visitors.
- **[INFO]** Google Analytics (Analytics) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Page views, User behavior, Demographics, Device info, IP address. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Data Processing Agreement available.
- **[INFO]** Google Tag Manager (Tag Management) — Detected via script URL. Typically collects: Orchestrates other tracking scripts, Page views. Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy. Data Processing Agreement available.

### Compliance Badges (C — 55/100)

*0 compliance badge(s) detected*

- **[INFO]** No compliance badges detected — No recognized compliance certification badges or seals were found. This is common — many sites do not display compliance badges.

---

## Availability

### CDN & Delivery (D — 50/100)

*No CDN detected*

- **[WARNING]** No CDN detected — A CDN can significantly improve load times for users around the world by caching content at edge nodes closer to them.

### HTTP Caching (F — 30/100)

*No cache headers*

- **[WARNING]** No Cache-Control header found — Browsers will use heuristic caching, which can be unpredictable. Set explicit cache headers.

### Transport Security (B — 75/100)

*HTTP/3, HSTS, and TLS version analysis*

- **[INFO]** HTTP/3 (QUIC) not advertised — HTTP/3 eliminates head-of-line blocking. If your CDN supports it, consider enabling it.
- **[WARNING]** HSTS max-age is short: 182 days — HSTS max-age should be at least 1 year (31536000 seconds).
- **[PASS]** HSTS preload enabled
- **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 in use (fastest handshake, 1-RTT)

---

## Accessibility

### Landmark Structure (B — 75/100)

*10 landmarks*

- **[PASS]** <main> landmark present
- **[PASS]** 7 <nav> landmark(s) found
- **[WARNING]** 7 of 7 <nav> elements are unlabeled — Multiple navigations need aria-label to distinguish them for screen readers.
- **[WARNING]** Skip navigation link is missing (WCAG 2.4.1) — Add a skip link as the first focusable element so keyboard users can bypass repeated navigation.

### Heading Hierarchy (A+ — 100/100)

*347 headings*

- **[PASS]** Single H1 present

### Alt Text Quality (A+ — 100/100)

*All 278 images OK*

- **[PASS]** 278 image(s) with good alt text

### Form Accessibility (C — 69/100)

*3 of 3 controls have issues*

- **[CRITICAL]** 1 control(s) without accessible label — Form controls need a <label>, aria-label, or aria-labelledby for screen readers.
- **[WARNING]** 2 control(s) rely on placeholder only — Placeholder text disappears on focus and is not a reliable label.

### Link & Button Quality (B — 71/100)

*4 issue(s) across 408 links and 6 buttons*

- **[WARNING]** 3 link(s) open in new tab without warning — Add '(opens in new tab)' to link text or aria-label.
- **[CRITICAL]** 4 button(s) with no accessible text — Icon-only buttons need an aria-label so screen readers can announce them.
- **[PASS]** 405 link(s) with descriptive text

---

## UX

### 404 Error Page (F — 35/100)

*HTTP 404, bare page*

- **[PASS]** Correct 404 status code returned
- **[WARNING]** Bare server default 404 page — The 404 page has no custom styling. Users hitting a broken link see a generic error with no way to navigate back. Add a custom 404 page with your site navigation and a search bar.

### Favicon & Branding (D — 40/100)

*3 icon(s) detected*

- **[PASS]** favicon.ico present at site root
- **[PASS]** HTML icon links detected
- **[INFO]** No apple-touch-icon detected — iOS devices use this when users add your site to their home screen. Add <link rel='apple-touch-icon' sizes='180x180' href='/apple-touch-icon.png'>.

### Web Manifest (D — 40/100)

*Not found*

- **[INFO]** No web manifest found — No manifest at standard paths (/manifest.json, /site.webmanifest). A manifest is optional but enables PWA features like home screen installation and standalone display.

### Dark Mode Support (D — 40/100)

*No dark mode signals*

- **[INFO]** No dark mode signals detected — Consider adding CSS with @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) and <meta name='color-scheme' content='light dark'>.
- **[INFO]** Detection limited to meta tags and inline styles — External CSS files may contain prefers-color-scheme rules not visible to this scan.

### Print Stylesheet (D — 40/100)

*No print styles*

- **[INFO]** No print-specific styles detected — When users print this page, they get the screen layout including navigation and non-essential elements. Add @media print rules to hide navigation and optimize layout for paper.

### Navigation UX (F — 20/100)

*No navigation patterns*

- **[PASS]** 7 navigation landmark(s) detected
- **[PASS]** Hamburger menu detected (responsive design)
- **[INFO]** No breadcrumbs, search, or skip link detected — These navigation aids help users orient themselves and find content efficiently, especially on large sites.

---

## SEO

### Canonical URL (A — 85/100)

*Minor issues*

- **[PASS]** Canonical tag present
- **[WARNING]** Canonical does not match final URL (https://vatican.va)
- **[PASS]** Canonical target returns 200
- **[INFO]** Canonical points to a different domain

### Meta Tags (A — 90/100)

*Title: 12 chars*

- **[PASS]** Page title is set
- **[WARNING]** Title is only 12 characters — consider expanding
- **[INFO]** Title and H1 are identical — Consider differentiating — the title is for search results, the H1 is for the page.

### Content Depth (A+ — 100/100)

*2080 words, Fairly Easy*

- **[PASS]** Page has 2080 words — good depth for search engines
- **[INFO]** Reading level: Fairly Easy (grade 3)

### Internal Links (A+ — 95/100)

*375 internal, 33 external*

- **[PASS]** 375 internal links (92%)
- **[PASS]** 100% of links use descriptive anchor text
- **[INFO]** Page has 408 links — consider reducing
- **[INFO]** 375 internal / 33 external links

### Image SEO (A+ — 100/100)

*278 images, 276 descriptive filenames*

- **[INFO]** 2 image(s) have hash/generic filenames

### Hreflang

*0 hreflang tags*


---

## Sustainability

### CO2 Per Page Load (F — 30/100)

*1.73g CO2 per view*

- **[WARNING]** 1.73g CO2 per page view — This page transfers 6.1 MB, producing an estimated 1.73g of CO2 per visit using the Sustainable Web Design model (v4). Breakdown: data center 0.32g, network 0.30g, end-user device 1.11g.
- **[INFO]** At 10,000 monthly views: 207.1 kg CO2/year — With 10,000 page views per month, this page would generate approximately 207.1 kg of CO2 annually — equivalent to charging 25891 smartphones.

### Green Hosting (D — 40/100)

*Not green*

- **[INFO]** No confirmed renewable energy commitment detected — Consider providers like Cloudflare, Google Cloud, or Vercel that match 100% of their energy use with renewables.
- **[INFO]** Green hosting status based on known provider commitments — Green hosting detection uses a curated database of provider renewable energy commitments. This is not a real-time verification. For authoritative checks, visit thegreenwebfoundation.org.

### Repeat Visit Weight (A+ — 100/100)

*99% cached*

- **[PASS]** 99% reduction on repeat visits — Returning visitors download only 76 KB (vs 6241 KB first visit). 95 of 98 resources are served from browser cache, saving 1.70g CO2 per repeat visit.
- **[INFO]** Repeat visit: 0.02g CO2 (first visit: 1.73g)

### Carbon Budget (F — 30/100)

*82th percentile*

- **[WARNING]** 1.73g CO2 — above the median website (0.60g) — Heavier than an estimated 18% of websites. Reducing page weight, optimizing images, and removing unused JavaScript would lower the carbon footprint. See the Performance tab.
- **[INFO]** Estimated 82th percentile — Compared to: top 10% = 0.20g, target = 0.50g, median = 0.60g per page view.

### Transfer Efficiency (A+ — 100/100)

*92% efficient*

- **[PASS]** Transfer efficiency: 92% — Only 515 KB of potential savings identified. Your page is well-optimized for size.

---

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*Generated by [BeaverCheck](https://beavercheck.com) — https://beavercheck.com/results/f6cbcefd-122e-4625-ad9e-317d349007b2*
