VOA慢速英语2015 梵蒂冈称有人要求10万欧元赎回被盗文物

AS IT IS 2015-03-12 Vatican: 100,000 Euro Demanded for Stolen Documents 梵蒂冈称有人要求10万欧元赎回被盗文物

The Roman Catholic Church says someone is demanding payment to return two rare documents. One is a letter signed by the artist Michelangelo, who died in 1564. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel¹ ceiling, part of the Catholic Church headquarters in Italy.

The church has not given details about the other document.

Both documents were stolen from the Roman Catholic Church archive almost 20 years ago. But the theft of the two documents had not been made public before Sunday.

The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero first reported the incident Sunday. Later, Church spokesman Father Federico Lombardi confirmed it happened.

Fr. Lombardi says someone contacted the cardinal² who runs St. Peter's Basilica and offered to get the documents back for a price. He does not say what the price was, but he says the cardinal refused the demand for payment.

However, Il Messaggero says the person was a former Vatican employee and had asked for 100,000 euros.

Nun³ informed officials

The spokesman says a nun who worked in the Vatican archive informed officials in 1997 that the documents had disappeared. They were removed from the archives of the Vatican department that takes care of the basilica, known as the Fabbrica di San Pietro.

The archives contain numerous documents concerning the history, design and construction of the world’s largest Christian⁴ church.

The spokesperson does not say why the Vatican had not announced the theft before. He says both the Italian and Vatican police are now investigating the case.

Words in This Story

archive – n. a place in which public records or historical materials, such as documents, are kept

cardinal – n. a priest of the Roman Catholic Church who ranks immediately below the Pope

nun – n. a woman who is a member of a religious community and who usually promises to remain poor, unmarried and separate from the rest of society in order to serve God

basilica – n. a large church that has a long central part that ends in a curved wall

construction – n. the act or process of building something, such as a house or road

1 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

2 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。

3 nun   

n.修女，尼姑

参考例句：

• I can't believe that the famous singer has become a nun.我无法相信那个著名的歌星已做了修女。
• She shaved her head and became a nun.她削发为尼。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。