The late XVI. Pope Benedict has worn this pectoral cross at special events, which was blown from a church in Bavaria on Monday.
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) reported the incident on Tuesday.
According to the report of the provincial public service media company, the jewel was stolen during the day - on Monday between 11:45 and 17:00 - from the St. Oswald Church in Traunstein, where part of the estate of the late Catholic bishop is kept.
The unknown perpetrators pried open a display case embedded in the wall and removed the pectoral cross from it, in addition
they also broke into the cash register of the church's magazine stand, from which an unknown amount was stolen.
Born Joseph Ratzinger, the pope began his ecclesiastical career in the parish of Traunstein in the middle of the twentieth century. He often wore the papal pectoral cross kept in the church on special occasions, such as at Masses in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican or at important audiences and receptions.
According to BR's report
the jewelry is probably not made of gold, but gilded, but it is decorated with a precious stone. Its material value is unknown, but its ideological value is "naturally huge"
- said Ludwig Waldinger, the spokesman of the provincial criminal office (LKA), which is leading the investigation.
Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope in 2005. He left his office in 2013. He was the first head of the church to resign in six centuries. The retired pope died on December 31 at the age of 95.
MTI
Featured image: MTI/EPA/Alessandro Di Meo
