The publication said a bird of prey named "Sylvia", who was specially trained for the task in northern Italy, has been taken on by the Swiss Guards following the incident in January.
But a Vatican official told AFP the report, which was due to appear in the Italian weekly's tomorrow edition and was relayed by other newspapers, was an "April Fools' they picked up".
Doves are traditionally released from the Vatican a few times a year as signs of peace.
The use of birds of prey to scare off unwanted pests is not new: they are often used at airports and football stadiums to get rid of pigeons and have even been deployed at Rome's historical monuments to preserve them from pigeon droppings.