Italy was in shock over the kidnap and murder of a sick 18-month-old toddler whose body was found at the weekend by police. Police discovered the body of epileptic Tommaso Onofri this week end, a month after he was kidnapped, in a wood near the northern city of Parma, just a few kilometres from the family home. They were led to a shallow grave by Mario Alessi, one of three people arrested earlier Saturday, who prosecutors said had confessed to the crime.

According to media reports citing prosecutors, Alessi said the child had been killed within an hour of his abduction ?because he was crying too much.?

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Pope Benedict XVI voiced Italians? shock and revulsion over the kidnap and murder of the child, who was abducted from his parents? home on March 2 by two men wielding knives. ?When we heard the terrible news yesterday, my wife and I were horrified and our blood froze. The news took our breath away,? Ciampi, 85, said on Sunday.

Pope Benedict XVI, who last month publicly appealed to the kidnappers to release Tommaso, led prayers for the little boy at his weekly Sunday Angelus prayer at the Vatican.?We are all shocked by the story of little Tommaso, who was barbarously murdered,? he told pilgrims in St Peter?s Square. ?Let us pray for him and for all the victims of violence.? Italy?s branch of Save the Children expressed shock at the news. ?The violent death of a baby is a sign of a society which is losing sight of its fundamental values,? said the organisation?s Valerio Neri.