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Man seized for stealing blood of Pope John Paul II

Italian police in Spoleto said on Friday they had found the presumed thief who stole a church relic containing the blood of the late Pope John Paul II.

Published: 14 November 2020 08:12 CET

Man seized for stealing blood of Pope John Paul II

The relic was stolen from the cathedral in Spoleto in central Italy. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

The relic of the Polish pope who died in 2005 and was canonised in 2014 was stolen in September from the cathedral in Spoleto, in the centre of Italy.

Local police told AFP they filed charges for theft against a 59-year-old man from Tuscany, known to police for having stolen other sacred relics in the past. The man was not arrested.

Video surveillance taken inside the church and in city streets helped authorities identify the man.

The relic remains missing, however, after a search of the man's home revealed no traces of it, police said.

The golden cross with a vial of the former pope's blood was given to the Spoleto-Norcia archdiocese in 2016 by the Polish cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who served for years as John Paul II's personal secretary.

The relic was displayed in a niche of the cathedral, protected by an iron gate, whose alarm did not sound after the theft in broad daylight.

The alleged thief then headed to the train station where he took two trains to return home.

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Sicilian mafia boss Messina Denaro dies after long illness

Matteo Messina Denaro, known as the ‘last godfather’ of the Cosa Nostra mafia and accused of a long series of heinous crimes, died in the early hours of Monday, Italian news agency Ansa announced overnight.

The 61-year-old had colon cancer, for which he had sought treatment while on the run – a decision that reportedly brought him to the attention of the authorities, who arrested him at a clinic in Palermo.

Messina Denaro was one of the most ruthless bosses in Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate depicted in the Godfather movies.

He was convicted by the courts of involvement in the murder of anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone in 1992 and in deadly bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993.

One of his six life sentences was also handed down for the kidnapping and subsequent murder of the 12-year-old son of a witness in the Falcone case.

Messina Denaro disappeared in the summer of 1993, and spent the next 30 years on the run as the Italian state cracked down on the Sicilian mob.

READ ALSO: Messina Denaro: How Italy caught ‘most wanted’ mafia boss after 30 years

But he remained the top name on Italy’s most-wanted list and, increasingly became a figure of legend.

He was arrested on January 16th as he visited a health clinic where he was being treated using a fake identity.

Mafia boss hideout in Sicily

Police officers prevent access to mafia boss Messina Denaro’s hideout in Campobello di Mazara, Sicily. Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)

He was detained in a high-security jail in L’Aquila, central Italy, where he continued treatment for his cancer in his cell.

In August, Messina Denaro was moved to the inmates’ ward of the local hospital, where his condition had declined in recent days.

This weekend, media reports said he was in an “irreversible coma”. Medics had stopped feeding him and he had asked not to be resuscitated, they added.

His arrest may have brought some relief for his victims, but the mob boss always maintained his silence.

In interviews in custody since being arrested, Messina Denaro even denied he was a member of the Cosa Nostra.

Wiretaps

After Messina Denaro went on the run, there was intense speculation that he had gone abroad – and he likely did.

But in the end, he was found to have been staying near his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily.

READ ALSO: Police arrest dozens in major raid on Italy’s youngest mafia

Preparations are already under way for his burial in the family tomb in the town, alongside his father, Don Ciccio, according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Don Ciccio was also head of the local clan. He was said to have died of a heart attack while on the run, his body left in the countryside, dressed for the funeral.

Investigators had been combing the Sicilian countryside for Messina Denaro for years, searching for hideouts and wiretapping members of his family and his friends.

They were heard discussing the medical problems of an unnamed person who suffered from cancer, as well as eye problems – a person who detectives became sure was Messina Denaro.

They used a national health system database to search for male patients of the right age and medical history, and eventually closed in.

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