By Mike Deehan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON, MARCH 25, 2011….Former Boston Mayor and U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Raymond Flynn's home in South Boston was broken into and ransacked Thursday while he and his wife attended the funeral Mass in Dorchester for former House Speaker Thomas Finneran's mother, Flynn told the News Service Friday.

"They literally took everything of value," Flynn said.

Flynn, who served as Boston mayor from 1984 to 1993, said the intruders stole valuable jewelry, including a cross given to him by Pope John Paul II, letters he'd received from former Presidents Reagan and Clinton and correspondence sent to him by John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Tony Blair and former South African president Nelson Mandela shortly after he was released from prison.

Flynn, 71, served as United States Ambassador to the Holy See from 1993 to 1997.

"Just about everything, everything of value we ever had from the past 50 years is gone," Flynn said.

The thieves also took a solid gold cross given to Flynn by Cardinal John O'Connor from New York, the former mayor said.

Flynn said the envelope containing the correspondence was labeled "valuable letters."

"Maybe that was my mistake, marking them valuable, but they were valuable to me," Flynn said.

Leaving the house for the funeral services at 8:45 a.m. Thursday, Flynn said he and his wife returned home at 1 p.m. to find the house ransacked. He contacted police.

"You never expect this to happen, you just never do," Flynn said.

State Sen. Jack Hart's sister Susan, a neighbor of the Flynns, brought over an apple pie after hearing about the break-in, Flynn said.

"There have been a lot of break-ins around here," Flynn, who lives in South Boston's City Point area, said.

He doesn't know if the robbers targeted his home specifically, adding that a neighbor heard someone trying to force their way into the neighbor's home around the same time.