.from first article linked in OP.


Pope John Paul ll relic stolen
from chapel in Italy

By Alan Johnston
BBC News, Rome







Italian police are hunting for a stolen holy relic that contains the blood of Pope John Paul ll.

It appears to have been taken during the burglary of a small chapel that was a place of special significance to the late Pope.

The church of San Pietro della Ienca lies in an isolated spot in the mountains of central Abruzzo region.

Over the weekend, thieves broke some protective iron bars and forced their way in through a window.





They left the collection box, but took a crucifix and the priceless relic, which contains a piece of gauze once soaked in the blood of the late Pope - one of only three such relics in the world.

Members of the local cultural association supporting the chapel are distraught.

"We are very displeased by the theft. We have no idea of who could have done it. The police are carrying out a search," said Franca Corrieri, a member of the association, speaking to the BBC.

The Pope used to escape the pressures of life in the Vatican by coming to the mountains.

"This is an area that John Paul II visited often, with his secretary and not too many bodyguards. We feel very connected to him. After his death, his secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, came and told us that he wanted this church to become a sanctuary," said Ms Corrieri.

Dozens of police officers are now searching the area with sniffer dogs.


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[........You would think if they had wanted his blood for a relic they could have thought ahead, like when he first died?  I mean, how many centuries of this topic do we have now?  You see, the problem is, JPII was not one who respected the Traditions of the Church, and the blood of martyrs wasn't on his 'radar' -- so why would his caretakers have had any notion of thinking that his blood would one day be somehow important? ...............]





.from second linked article in OP.



   
Nick Squires

By Nick Squires, Rome

3:26PM GMT 27 Jan 2014

A religious reliquary containing blood from the late Pope John Paul II has been stolen from a remote mountain church in Italy, with speculation that a Satanic group could be behind the theft.

A team of around 50 Carabinieri police officers with sniffer dogs were on Monday searching for any trace of the reliquary, which was stolen from the Church of St Peter of Ienca in the Abruzzo mountains at the weekend.

The ornate gold object contains a fragment of material, stained with blood, which was purportedly taken from the clothing worn by John Paul II after he was shot during the failed attempt on his life in St Peter’s Square in 1981.

It was donated to the church in May 2011 by Stanislaw Dzuwisz, a Polish cardinal and the Pope’s former personal secretary.

The reliquary is one of just a handful in the world that contains the blood of the Polish pope, who died in 2005 and was succeeded by Benedict XVI.
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It was stolen along with a cross from the church, which lies close to Gran Sasso, a 9,550ft- high mountain in the Apennines east of Rome.

The theft was discovered on Saturday by a priest from the religious sanctuary, which is dedicated to the memory of John Paul II.

The Pope was very fond of the region and used to spend holidays there, walking, meditating and skiing at the nearby resort of Campo Imperatore.

It is also famous as the place where Benito Mussolini was interned after Italy swapped sides during the war, and from where he was rescued by a team of German paratroopers in Sept 1943 during a daring airborne raid.

“It’s possible that there could be Satanic sects behind the theft of the reliquary,” said Giovanni Panunzio, the national coordinator of an anti-occult group called Osservatorio Antiplagio.

“This period of the year is important in the Satanic calendar and culminates in the Satanic ‘new year’ on Feb 1. This sort of sacrilege often take place at this time of the year. We hope that the stolen items are recovered as quickly as possible.”

The theft of the reliquary comes as the Vatican prepares to canonise John Paul II, along with another former Pope, John XXIII, at a ceremony on April 27.

At John Paul II’s funeral in 2005, crowds of mourners cried "Santo Subito!" - "Sainthood now" - prompting the Vatican to speed up the Polish pontiff’s path to canonisation.

In Aug 2012, another relic containing a vial of the late Pope’s blood was stolen from a Catholic priest while he was travelling on a train north of Rome.

The relic was in his backpack, which was swiped by thieves but later recovered in a thicket of cane grass by police.



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The Pope was very fond of the region and used to spend holidays there, walking, meditating and skiing at the nearby resort of Campo Imperatore.

[.........now, if the pope had only been fond of the RELIGION, maybe............]



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I don't know what to make of this.  Why would someone steal it?

That's the question, isn't it?

From what I gather, committed and serious Satanists are wise to the crisis in the Church, inasmuch as if they really wanted to profane something sacred, they wouldn't bother trying to procure it from the Novus Ordo.

So, maybe amateur Satanists?

Or, it could be a job for someone who collects weird things.  The article said that a crucifix and the bloody gauze was stolen, but nothing else-- they didn't take the collection money or anything like that.  I've heard of ridiculously rich and intriguing people who own very rare things (a piece of gauze with JPII's blood on it is "priceless" the sort of way that a pair of Martin Luther's underwear would be) so I'm thinking something along those lines.  Something to show off to trustworthy (and equally rich and elite) friends when they're over for a dinner party?

Maybe they have to have a relic of one of their own?

My guess is it was stolen in order to be sold.  Relics are BIG business on auction sites such as Ebay.  Go to Ebay and type in the word relic in the search bar.  You would be amazed at what's being sold there.  The selling and buying of relics in the 21st century is just as big a business (if not bigger) as it was during some parts of the Middle Ages.

I personally do not see the object which was stolen as an authentic Catholic relic.  It's a Novus Ordo relic (big difference).  But JPII had a HUGE following and "relics" such as this will fetch a big price.

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If they ever get it back, they should move to some BPG instead of cheap glass.

A force strong enough to get through this would also destroy the relic behind it, so then, why bother?




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If they ever get it back, they should move to some BPG instead of cheap glass.

A force strong enough to get through this would also destroy the relic behind it, so then, why bother?

Don't ask me.

I wouldn't want that man's blood if it was protected with rice paper.

Perhaps even Satanists or Satanist wannabes are prone to celebrity worship.

My guess is more prosaic. I'm thinking a private investigator hired a couple of low-budget thugs to snatch the gauze so that a paternity test could be performed. Afterwards, the so-called relic will be "returned" anonymously to local police amid sighs of relief and thanksgiving. Shortly thereafter no one will even wonder any longer about who stole it or why.

But a time bomb has been set ticking--"the slipping of small stones" and all that. The results of this paternity test will not be made public any time soon. It was performed solely to satisfy the conscience of the individual who requested it. When and if the revelations do come to light, it will be at precisely the time foreordained by God to deliver yet another blow to the conciliar sect, which may be many decades hence.

You would need pretty solid evidence for that to stick.  A DNA test done in private would not be believed.