An Italian parish priest, Don Danilo Barlese has helped an unemployed man find a job after he stole from church’s offerings boxes.
The man said he stole to help his hungry family in a Venice seaside town.
The Italian news agency ANSA said the young father of two, 23, stole from the boxes at three Caorle churches including a well-known shrine and the local Duomo on 14 occasions recently, for a total of around 1,000 euros, before being caught.
Carabinieri spotted him on CCTV.
They then waited for him outside one of the churches and arrested him after finding some 100 euros in his pockets and an adhesive tape he used to get the money out of the boxes’ narrow slits.
Arrested on charges of aggravated theft, the man tried to justify his actions saying he had to maintain his family.
The local priest Barlese helped him get a job at a Caorle restaurant with the assistance of the town council.
