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 removed from the base of a sculpture commemorating the pope's visit to Cologne in 1980.
Bachner urged the thief to return the relic.
Pope John Paul II died in 2005.