Rome, Italy, May 6, 2008 / 09:56 am
Italian police are seeking two young people accused of having stolen objects of value from Bishop Antonio Rosario Mennonna, the second oldest bishop in the world.
Among the objects stolen was a cross given to him by John Paul II, a chalice, rings and calligraphy pens, according to reports by the Italian media.
Both of the accused, aged 18 and 19 and from the city of Rome, worked for the bishop at his home in Muro Lucano in southern Italy. After stealing the items they fled unexpectedly.
The first to report the theft was the bishop’s nephew who lives with him and found some of his own items to be missing as well. Bishop Mennonna will turn 102 on May 27 and is the second oldest bishop of the world, after Vietnamese Bishop Antoine Nguyên Van Thien, who turned 102 on March 13, according to the latest information from the Catholic portal www.catholic-hierarchy.org