Pig's head replaces Jesus statue

Severed pighead lies inside a creche set up near Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Haverhill, Massachusetts. / Courtesy of Facebook

Police are searching for a person who replaced a baby Jesus statuette in a nativity scene at a church with a severed pig’s head.

An online newspaper said Saturday the sacrilegious act discovered at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on Christmas morning.

Police said the pig’s head appeared to have been severed recently.

Mayor James Fiorentini said the incident had “all the elements of a hate crime.

A neighbor reportedly later replaced the stolen statuette with one from a creche.