[Cicero]

Yes. Of course spoils of war are spoils of war, and the Vatican would have a perfect right to keep the Turkish banner in memory of a crucial victory for the Church and the West. But they also value good relations.

Similarly, if the Temple relics were in the Vatican, after 2,000 years, the Vatican would have as good a legal claim to them as anyone. But obviously they would mean more to the Jews than to Catholics and therefore should be returned.

There's some reason to believe that the Ark of the Covenant, a much more precious object than the Menorah, may now be in a church in Ethiopia, but the Ethiopian Christians have their own Church going back to the earliest days, and the Ark is an important part of their rituals, however literally one takes it.

[Alouette]

There's some reason to believe that the Ark of the Covenant, a much more precious object than the Menorah, may now be in a church in Ethiopia

How do we know it is the original Ark and not a replica? Do its keepers suffer from hemmerhoids? (I Samuel 5:9)