According to the BBC, the theft occurred over this past weekend when thieves broke through the barred windows of the church of San Pietro della lenca, which stands in an isolated mountainous area in central Abruzzo.
The relic, which contains a bloodstained piece of clothing worn by the pope when he was shot during the failed attempt on his life in St. Peter's Square in 1981, was stolen along with a crucifix. The collection box was left untouched, telling police that the relic, which is one of only three in the world, was what the thieves wanted.
The chapel was a favorite spot of John Paul who liked to come there on holidays to escape the rigors of life at the Vatican.
The locals are understandably upset by the incident.
Paola Corrieri, a member of the local cultural association, told the BBC that they were very displeased by the theft and have no idea who could have done such a thing.
"This is an area that John Paul II visited often, with his secretary and not too many bodyguards. We feel very connected to him. After his death, his secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, came and told us that he wanted this church to become a sanctuary," Corrieri told the BBC.
Because of how difficult it would be to try to sell the relic, police fear it may have been stolen for use in Satanic rites.
“It’s possible that there could be Satanic sects behind the theft of the reliquary,” said Giovanni Panunzio, the national coordinator of an anti-occult group called Osservatorio Antiplagio, to The Telegraph.
“This period of the year is important in the Satanic calendar and culminates in the Satanic ‘new year’ on Feb 1. This sort of sacrilege often takes place at this time of the year. We hope that the stolen items are recovered as quickly as possible.”
This is not the first time one of John Paul's relics were stolen. A relic containing a vial of John Paul's blood was stolen from a Catholic priest who was traveling with the relic on a train north of Rome in August of 2012. The priest's backpack, which contained the relic, was stolen, but later recovered in some nearby cane grass by police.
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