A number of relics have been stolen from the Parish Church of St Leonard the Abbot in Kirkop, with the Archdiocese of Malta confirming that a police investigation is underway.

The Archdiocese said the relics were kept in a reliquary behind the church’s high altar. There were no signs of forced entry to the reliquary itself.

The missing relics were first verified as having been removed, rather than simply moved to another location within the church, after which the parish priest filed a police report at the Żurrieq station.

The Archdiocese condemned the theft as a “sacrilegious and criminal act” and joined the Kirkop parish priest in appealing for the relics to be returned to the Church.

The police investigation is ongoing.

In a statement sent to the media on Tuesday morning, the Għaqda Mużikali San Leonardu A.D. 1858 said that it was informed that several relics, including one of the locality’s titular saint St Leonard, had gone missing on 13 September 2026.

The organisation said that the locality’s parish priest was informed and that a police report was filed on 17 September and it has not heard of any developments since then.

The band club said that all relics and sacred objects should be taken care of with the utmost of care, and said that the Kirkop parish priest had displayed “major shortcomings” in this regard.

It said that the relic was stored in a reliquary in a wall next to the altar of St Leonard which did not lock, meaning that it was easy for anyone to get their hands on the relic.

“To be clear, with the lack of a sacristan, the responsibility for religious patrimony falls exclusively onto the parish priest and no other helper who assists the parish in a voluntary manner,” the band club said.

It said that the relic of St Leonard was last used on 6 November 2025 during the liturgical feast of St Leonard after which it was stored in its usual place, and the reliquary itself was last used in July 2026.

“Good sense dictates that after being informed of the disappearance of the relics, including that of St Leonard, a report should have been filed with the police immediately,” the band club said, as it questioned why it took four whole days for ecclesiastical authorities to file the report.

The band club made it clear that “in the absence of concrete proof, it is not point its fingers at anyone.”

“However, the band club makes it clear that it expects accountability from all of those who displayed shortcomings in their duties.  Finally, those who interpret the band club’s prudence and silence in recent days as weakness are mistaken,” it said.