Authorities in Italy are searching for the vial of Pope John Paul II's blood that was stolen from a church in the Abruzzo region, the Washington Post reported.
Though police are unsure of when the break-in at the Church of San Pietro della Lenca took place, a church custodian realized the vial of blood and a large crucifix were missing on Sunday after noticing a broken window.
Carabinieri paramilitary police Col. Andrea Ronchey told the Associated Press that the vial -- a blood-soaked cloth kept inside a painted metal cross -- was last seen on Thursday.
Once Pope John Paul II is proclaimed a saint in April, the value of his artifacts will increase in value, making the robbery an extremely sensitive issue.
Police officers and sniffer dogs are searching the surrounding area for any clues, Reuters reported. The Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana called the incident a "sacrilegious theft that was probably commissioned by someone."
The former pope, who died in 2005, was known to have a deep love of the Abruzzo region of Italy and stopped in the church several times to pray. In 2011, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz -- John Paul's former secretary and current archbishop -- gave the area near the church a vial of the former pontiff's blood to commemorate his fondness of the region.
Franca Corrieri, a member of an association that looks after the church, said she felt like the incident was more of a "kidnapping" than a theft.
"In a sense, a person has been stolen," Corrieri said to Reuters.
Some of Pope John Paul II's blood was saved following an assassination attempt that almost killed him in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.
