article_snippet: Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi added that a nun who worked in the Vatican archives informed officials back in 1997 that the documents for 'a certain price' had gone missing, but Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi did not say why Vatican Vatican had not disclosed the theft of the two letters before.
article_snippet: While Rome newspaper Il Messaggero spoke of only one letter signed by Michelangelo, who lived from 1475 to 1564, Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said two documents had gone missing.
article_snippet: Until a spokesman confirmed the threat, the threat was not known that the documents for 'a certain price' had been taken back in 1997 .
highlights_snippet: Nun reported that the letters, one of them signed, were missing in 1997 .
  
highlights_snippet: But until yesterday the public knew nothing about the letters being taken .