Theft of Sacrilegious Objects in San Felice Church

Case information
Incident date
Country
Italy
Place
Pietre
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Desecration
  • Theft
  • Vandalism (all)
  • Vandalism of Church
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Comments/Written Statements/Gestures/Graffiti
  • Lack of Other Motive
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
Reported to Police
  • Yes
Response of Local Authorities
  • Investigated
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: Lennon Caranzo on Unsplash

Unknown perpetrators stole offerings and gold objects such as rings and a golden necklace from the San Felice di Tenna parish church in Tramonti. The incident is said to have happened sometime overnight from 25 to 26 August. The culprits must have known that parish priest Father Justin Nnamdi Emeziem left the town to attend a summer camp. Apart from the stolen offerings and a broken offertory box, the military and the police found a damaged statue of the Virgin Mary and gold objects belonging to the statue missing. Police in cooperation with the military is investigating the incident, which was caught by nearby surveillance cameras. An exact amount of the stolen goods has yet to be determined.

Sources