Italian police are looking for a stolen Roman Catholic relic that contains the blood of Pope John Paul ll – and hunting whoever stole it.

Over the weekend, criminals broke through iron bars on the windows of the church of San Pietro della Ienca in the mountainous central Abruzzo region, located east of Rome.  They passed the collection box and went for the relic, which contains a piece of gauze once soaked in the blood of the late Pope.  It’s one of only three such relics in the world.

The thieves also stole a crucifix.

The caretaker of the church does not know if a ransom demand has been made.  However, John Paul is due to be declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church this May, which would make the item even more valuable.

Pope John Paul II presided over the Roman Catholic Church for 27 years.  During the early part of that reign when he was healthy, the Pope would slip away from the Vatican unannounced, and visit the mountains to hike or ski just like he did in the hills south of Krakow, Poland when he was a youngster.  He’d pray at the small, stone San Pietro della Ienca church near the city of L'Aquila.  After he died in 2005, Vatican officials gave the small sample of the late pontiff's blood as a token of the love he had felt for the area and its people.