A gold tabernacle valued at more than 2 million dollars has been stolen from a Catholic church in the New York district of Brooklyn, local media reported this Sunday.

Police believe the thieves forced their way into the temple, currently under construction, and used tools to open an altar and take away the valuable, more than a century-old artifact.

In addition, they decapitated statues of angels that flanked the piece, according to officials of the church of San Agustín, located in the neighborhood of Park Slope, in Brooklyn.

“This is devastating, because the tabernacle is the central axis of our church outside of prayer,” Father Frank Tumino told the New York Post.

“Knowing that a thief entered the holiest part of our beautiful church and went to great lengths to breach the security system is an egregious act of disrespect,” he added.

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