The pectoral cross of Benedict XVI, stolen from the town church of St. Oswald in Traunstein on Monday afternoon, may not have been the most magnificent piece in the papal jewel case. On many photos on the Internet, which are currently being eagerly clicked on by the art investigators of the State Criminal Police Office, it mostly hangs over Benedikt’s white cassock, so to speak over the everyday overalls of a simple worker in the Lord’s vineyard, which Benedikt called himself. On the other hand, more magnificent pectorals were used for liturgical gala robes. For the parish of St. Oswald, the cross that the Pope Emeritus gave it in 2016 is still invaluable. Maybe she shouldn’t have kept it behind plain Plexiglas.
The pane of the display case in the masonry of St. Oswald, in which the cross has been exhibited since the completion of the church renovation in 2020, was made of this material. At least that’s what the LKA said on Thursday. The plastic pane was a bit thicker, but clearly not so strong that it would have withstood the obvious act of violence by the perpetrator or perpetrators. The LKA had previously announced that there was no alarm system or other safeguards.
For its investigators, too, the value of the cross is still inestimable, because they have not yet found anyone in Traunstein, in the ordinariate in Munich, or in the Vatican who could tell them who made the cross from what and put which stone in the middle – and how it was then due to the Pope. The investigators assume that the work is of a certain quality. After all, who would want to attach any kind of bauble to Benedict, who, in contrast to his successor, placed even greater value on the display of ecclesiastical splendor? Possibly still made of plastic, like the showcase.
It is currently assumed that the cross was not made of solid gold, but probably only gilded, according to the LKA, whose art investigators wanted to get a picture of themselves in Traunstein on Thursday and question witnesses. However, no relevant information can be drawn from the headlines in several media outlets (including the SZ), according to which “Pope Benedict’s pectoral cross was stolen”. But if Benedict, who died at the end of 2022, was actually the perpetrator himself, this would mean one thing above all: that the Catholic Church simply does not run out of miracles.