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Saint II. A locket containing a few drops of Pope John Paul II’s blood was stolen from Spoleto cathedral in Italy on Thursday. The archbishop of the city asked the thieves to return the valuable relic immediately.
The police are investigating with great force. According to press reports, the reliquary was kept in one of the side chapels of the Spoleto Cathedral. The disappearance of the relic was noticed by the church guard. There was no alarm in this part of the cathedral, the thieves jumped on the fence that closed the chapel.
Photo: SOPA Images / Getty Images Hungary
Archbishop Renato Boccardo urged the return of the relic in a video message. He expressed that the believers in the city were deeply moved by what had happened.
I hope the perpetrators were driven by ignorance and did not want to offend the believers. I also hope that the theft is not due to profit.
Archbishop Boccardo said.
Representatives of local cultural life also joined the call, urging the return of the relic.
In the golden reliquary, Saint II. A few drops of Pope John Paul’s blood were preserved, donated to the joint diocese of Spoleto and Norcia in September 2016 by the former personal secretary of the Polish Pope, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, retired Archbishop of Krakow.
They wanted to move the relic to another church, which was built by Saint II. It is dedicated to the memory of John Paul on October 22, the day of his former papal investiture.
The church now remembers the centenary of the birth of the later archbishop, Karol Wojtyla: he was born in May 1920, but due to the coronavirus epidemic, the anniversary celebration has been postponed. On Friday, Polish President Andrzej Duda will also visit the Vatican on St. II. To the tomb of Juan Pablo. The Polish Pope was elected archbishop in October 1978, died in April 2005, and was ordained a saint in 2014.
Unlock the Vatican. For the first time in two months on Monday, there will be a papal mass that believers can attend.
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