Vial of Pope John Paul II's blood stolen from San Pietro della Ienca church in Italy Vial act ... Someone has stolen a vial of Pope John Paul II's blood. A TUBE containing Pope John Paul II's blood has been stolen from a church in Italy, sparking a region-wide search involving sniffer dogs and 50 police officers. The vial was stolen on Saturday from the San Pietro della Ienca church in the mountainous Abruzzo region in central Italy where the pope, who died in 2005, loved to go on skiing holidays, according to the Repubblica daily. According to La Repubblica, some Italian Christian groups from the region have raised the prospect that the blood could have been stolen by Satanists for a ritual or as a symbolic gesture. CBS News is reporting that the the date of the theft coincides with the beginning of the new year on the Satanic calendar. Apart from the reliquary and a crucifix, nothing else was stolen from the isolated church, even though Franca Corrieri said the thieves would probably have had time to take other objects during the night-time theft. Police and sniffer dogs are sweeping the area, famed for its weathered stone houses and the little church where the head of the Catholic Church once reportedly took refuge in a storm. Pasquale Corriere, head of the "San Pietro della Ienca" association, said there are only three vials in the world containing the former pontiff's blood. John Paul II and the Italian Pope John XXIII - known as the "good Pope" - are set to become saints in a ceremony at the Vatican in April expected to draw hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.