Worcestershire, UK - A medieval woodcarving of Jesus as a child has been stolen from a Worcestershire church.
The figure, which is about 2ft high, was taken during Pershore Abbey's opening hours, it is believed.
Spokesman Colin Reeves said the "very pretty painted wooden model" came from Spain and was a gift from an earlier vicar maybe 20 or 30 years ago.
The church is now looking for more volunteers to help staff the building when it is open to the public.
Mr Reeves said: "The police have been informed.
"We circulated the photograph to everybody we could think of and it may be it just turns up at a second hand shop somewhere or somebody sees it."
He added he had been told the figure was medieval and it had been "fairly securely fixed".
Mr Reeves said: "Let's hope it's out there somewhere and eventually it'll come back to us."
He said the church was "not discouraged" by the theft, adding: "We are going to keep on making the place even more attractive to come to."