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Cloth with late pope’s blood stolen from Cologne cathedral

FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2013 file picture a tourist takes pictures of a religious relic of late Pope John Paul II in the Cologne Cathedral, Germany. A cloth with a drop of blood from the late Pope John Paul II has been stolen from Cologne Cathedral. Police said a visitor noticed the disappearance of the religious relic early Sunday June 5, 2016 and alerted church usher. In a statement, police quoted the cathedral’s provost, Gerd Bachner, lamenting the spiritual loss of the relic. ( Oliver Berg/dpa via AP)
FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2013 file picture a tourist takes pictures of a religious relic of late Pope John Paul II in the Cologne Cathedral, Germany. A cloth with a drop of blood from the late Pope John Paul II has been stolen from Cologne Cathedral. Police said a visitor noticed the disappearance of the religious relic early Sunday June 5, 2016 and alerted church usher. In a statement, police quoted the cathedral’s provost, Gerd Bachner, lamenting the spiritual loss of the relic. ( Oliver Berg/dpa via AP) FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2013 file picture a tourist takes pictures of a religious relic of late Pope John Paul II in the Cologne Cathedral, Germany. A cloth with a drop of blood from the late Pope John Paul II has been stolen from Cologne Cathedral. Police said a visitor noticed the disappearance of the religious relic early Sunday June 5, 2016 and alerted church usher. In a statement, police quoted the cathedral’s provost, Gerd Bachner, lamenting the spiritual loss of the relic. ( Oliver Berg/dpa via AP)

By Associated Press 1 min read

BERLIN (AP) – A cloth with a drop of blood from the late Pope John Paul II has been stolen from Cologne Cathedral.

German police said a visitor noticed on Sunday that the religious relic had disappeared and alerted a church usher.

In a statement, police quoted the cathedral’s provost, Gerd Bachner, lamenting the spiritual loss of the relic.

Police said the cloth was in a glass container that had been pried from a base of a sculpture commemorating the pope’s visit to Cologne in 1980.

Bachner urged the thief to return the relic.