"No Liquids on Flights Rule" Enforced on Holy Water

When they say no liquids on flights, they mean no liquids on flights. Even if the liquid is holy water. What's even more hilarious is that it was one of the Vatican's new charter flights for pilgrims.

Security officials barred pilgrims from taking water collected at Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral on a return flight to Rome. Naturally, the pilgrims, who included Italian television personality Paola Saluzzi, were upset after waiting in long lines to fill up their bottles.

''All passengers are obliged to respect the rules and not go over the quantities (of liquid) permitted'' on flights, said Franck Hourcade, an official at the Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees International Airport. For international flights, this is 3 ounces of liquid.

Mistral Air is providing this service for the Vatican, and Francesco Pizzo, Mistral Air's president, said ''There are international rules that state that liquids cannot be carried on board. These have to be respected.''

My question is: why not just put the holy water into checked luggage? Unless (and this could be the reason) the pilgrims didn't want to let the water out of their sight, because of the value?