ROME — Police are searching an Abruzzo mountain area beloved by the late Pope John Paul II for a stolen relic bearing his blood.
Vatican Radio decried the ‘‘sacrilegious theft’’ from tiny San Pietro della Ienca church near the Gran Sasso part of the Apennine mountains, where John Paul used to hike and ski.
Paramilitary police Colonel Andrea Ronchey in nearby L’Aquila said Monday the relic — a bit of blood-soaked cloth kept inside a painted metal cross — was last seen on Thursday in the church.
John Paul, who died in 2005 and will be made a saint April 27 during a Vatican ceremony, had celebrated Mass in the church. The blood was from a gauze used to save the pope from an assassination attempt in 1981.
In a separate development Monday, animal rights groups appealed to Pope Francis to end a practice of releasing doves over St. Peter’s Square, a day after a pair of the peace symbols were attacked by a sea gull and crow.
The National Animal Protection Agency published an open letter reminding Francis that domesticated doves are easy prey for predators.
Gulls nest atop the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square, far from natural seaside habitats, scavenging for garbage in Rome. The agency said freeing doves in Rome is like ‘‘condemning them to certain death.’’
Proanimal advocate and former tourism minister Michela Brambilla said she was confident that Francis, with his ‘‘extraordinary love’’ for all creatures, would reconsider.
The Vatican didn’t immediately comment on the doves.
As tens of thousands of people watched on Sunday, a sea gull and a large black crow swept down on the doves right after they were set free from the Apostolic Palace.