A pectoral cross that former pope Benedict XVI used to wear on his chest has been reported stolen from a church in southern Germany where it was on display.
According to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language partner news agency, unknown perpetrators broke open a display case on the wall of St. Oswald’s Church in the city of Traunstein during daylight hours Monday.
Police said cash was also stolen from the cash register of a literature stand in the church.
The value of the cross to the Catholic Church is “not quantifiable,” the police said. Authorities are asking anyone who saw anyone suspicious near St. Oswald’s on Monday or has any other information to come forward. The Traunstein district attorney’s office is leading the investigation.
The missing cross is one of several of its kind, Munich archdiocese spokesman Christoph Kappes said. It was sent to Traunstein after Benedict resigned, and went on display at the location it was stolen from in 2020, he told German news agency dpa.
Benedict died on Dec. 31, nearly a decade after becoming the first pope in six centuries to resign.