--- title: Baby Jesus Thefts Rock New Jersey description: Statues were stolen from at least 5 church nativity scenes canonical: https://time.com/4163053/another-christmas-another-string-of-baby-jesus-thefts/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-29T15:17:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:40:27.265Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Baby Jesus Thefts Rock New Jersey og:description: Statues were stolen from at least 5 church nativity scenes og:url: https://time.com/4163053/another-christmas-another-string-of-baby-jesus-thefts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c4187e7cf40b06d/6988770f8e06017cc6463ede/baby-jesus1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Thousands of Italian children take a Baby Jesus from their og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Baby Jesus Thefts Rock New Jersey twitter:description: Statues were stolen from at least 5 church nativity scenes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c4187e7cf40b06d/6988770f8e06017cc6463ede/baby-jesus1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Another Christmas, Another String of Baby Jesus Thefts by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 29, 2015 3:17 PM CUT  VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - 2015/12/20: Thousands of Italian children take a Baby Jesus from their Nativity Scene (for the tradition of the so called Bambinelli) so it can be blessed by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square. (Photo by Giuseppe Ciccia/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - 2015/12/20: Thousands of Italian children take a Baby Jesus from their Nativity Scene (for the tradition of the so called Bambinelli) so it can be blessed by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square. (Photo by Giuseppe Ciccia/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 29, 2015 3:17 PM CUT Christmastime ushered in manger-robbing in New Jersey, where at least 5 baby Jesus figurines were swiped from nativity scenes at local churches. The Archdiocese of Newark told [NBC News](http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Baby-Jesus-Statue-Stolen-From-NJ-Nativity-St-Clare-Church-Clifton-363588931.html "undefined") called the thefts from area churches “nonsensical” and “sad” and that he hoped the perpetrators would have a change of heart. And yet, according to a roundup by the New York [_Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/nyregion/baby-jesus-statues-stolen-new-jersey.html?module=WatchingPortal®ion=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=wide&state=standard&contentPlacement=10&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F12%2F29%2Fnyregion%2Fbaby-jesus-statues-stolen-new-jersey.html&eventName=Watching-article-click&%5Fr=1 "undefined"), the New Jersey 5 were just a drop in the Jesus-nabbing bucket. The holy babe in the manger was taken from a Massachusetts church, not once, but twice this year. A woman in Texas had her statute stolen on Christmas. And someone reportedly stole a baby Jesus from a Pennsylvania town’s National Christmas Center. In the wake of the thefts, which seem to be a [holiday](http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/12/29/stolen-baby-jesus-statue-returned-to-owners-after-8-years/ "undefined") [tradition](http://www.theawl.com/2012/12/where-in-the-world-is-baby-jesus "undefined") [for](http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/12/09/baby-jesus-stolen-from-two-nativity-scenes/ "undefined") [some](http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/12/26/baby-jesus-stolen-replaced-with-real-pigs-head "undefined"), churches have been using less expensive, decoy Jesus statues. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4163053/another-christmas-another-string-of-baby-jesus-thefts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4163053/another-christmas-another-string-of-baby-jesus-thefts/"},"headline":"Another Christmas, Another String of Baby Jesus Thefts","datePublished":"2015-12-29T15:17:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:40:27.265Z","description":"Statues were stolen from at least 5 church nativity scenes in New Jersey","url":"https://time.com/4163053/another-christmas-another-string-of-baby-jesus-thefts/","keywords":["Crime","Religion","christmas","Jesus","theft"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c4187e7cf40b06d/6988770f8e06017cc6463ede/baby-jesus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c4187e7cf40b06d/6988770f8e06017cc6463ede/baby-jesus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Thousands of Italian children take a Baby Jesus from their","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4163053/another-christmas-another-string-of-baby-jesus-thefts/","name":"Another Christmas, Another String of Baby Jesus Thefts"}}]}] ```