Relics of Fatima Saints Stolen During Exhibition on Pilgrimage
Two of the relics of the Fatima child saints as well as copies of a crown and golden rosary of the Fatima Virgin Mary statue were stolen from the Gesu Divino Lavoratore Catholic Church in Verona on May 29th while they were being taken around the country on a pilgrimage tour. Although they were only small pieces of cloth which once belonged to the Portuguese sheperd children Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who were canonized in May 2017 by Pope Francis, they are of great value for devout Catholics. Priest Andrea Ronconi said he was “heartbroken and mortified” by the theft and that it probably happened at noontime. Police are looking for the two suspects with who the priest might even have conversed before he locked the church for lunch break.
Sources: New York Times, Aleteia, Premier, katholisch.de