World Notes ITALY

The bells of L'Aquila tolled dolorously last week in mourning for a missing Pope. The remains of 13th century Pope St. Celestine V -- a nearly intact skeleton with a wax face -- had been stolen from the city's basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio. Celestine occupied St. Peter's chair for five months in 1294, and then abdicated -- an act Dante alluded to as the "great refusal." He was canonized in 1313.

After a nun discovered Celestine's glass casket was empty, authorities began tailing a couple of strangers who had driven through town. Within two days police followed the pair to the remains, stashed some 40 miles away. The figure of Celestine, still wearing miter and robes, was found lying on its red velvet cushion but concealed in a plywood box crammed into a burial niche in a local cemetery. The miscreants escaped. Back in L'Aquila, the bells rang again, this time in celebration.