VIRGIN MARY THAT 'WEEPS TEARS OF BLOOD' DECLARED FAKE BY VATICAN
An infamous Virgin Mary statue that 'wept tears of blood' has been declared a fake by Vatican officials after a 'mystic' drew in thousands of pilgrims by claiming the mother of Jesus spoke to her and magically supplied free pizza.
The wild claims of the 'bleeding Madonna's' superpowers caused widespread controversy after pilgrims around Italy flocked to catch a glimpse of the statue's 'miracle' on the third of each month and make confessions to the effigy.
Gisella Cardia, the owner of the Madonna di Trevignano claimed it had been shedding tears of blood since 2016 - while alleging the statue has been giving her private revelations since then.
She also boasted about experiencing supernatural phenomena, including an occasion where she fed 15 people seemingly never-ending portions of pizza, gnocchi, and rabbit - thanks to the alleged powers of the carving.
Duped followers believed she brought messages from Mary and some said she'd even predicted the Covid pandemic.
But last year, locals from the small town of Trevignano Romano who were skeptical of the bleeding Madonna called in a private investigator who met with the Italian military police.
The suspicious locals reportedly presented evidence suggesting the red liquid appearing from the statue's eyes was pig's blood.
An earlier investigation in 2020 revealed that after a series of tests, the blood found on the statue was a genetic match to Cardia's own.
Now, Catholic Church chiefs have ruled that that supernatural phenomenon was false, having it rubber-stamped by the prestigious Vatican.
Their Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued its first decree according to a new set of rules for vetting alleged Marian apparitions and spiritual phenomena.
It referred to a preliminary report from an investigation by the Diocese of Civita Castellana that found nothing supernatural about the statue.
It stated: 'It is clear that it is not supernatural.
'May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Church and our Mother, restore peace and serenity in view of the spiritual good of the faithful of the parish of Trevignano Romano and of the people of God who are throughout the Diocese of Civita Castellana.'
Officials believe Cardia has now fled her home town after fleecing her followers with tens of thousands of Euros in donations.
It comes after a Vatican academy last year revealed it was set to investigate 'mystical phenomena' around the world, including 'weeping' statues of Virgin Mary, stigmata and ghost sightings under plans for a dedicated observatory.
The Pontifical Mariana International Academy (PAMI), which describes itself as a scientific institution of the Holy See, hoped to uncover 'around a hundred ongoing phenomena' in Italy alone.
They had their eye on the curious case of the Madonna di Trevignano before it was squashed, but this was not the first example of a case of this nature.
Back in 2018, a New Mexico church found a Madonna which was leaking olive oil, sparking excitement that there was a supernatural force behind it.
Bishop Oscar Cantú of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Hobbs, US, said the church would determine whether or not the sign was a good one or an evil one.
Later that year, another Virgin Mary, this time in Argentina, was seen 'weeping' tears of blood for what was reputed to be the 38th time.
The statue of the Virgin of the Mystic Rose has been linked to several 'miracles', such as a woman who had a three-inch tumour which reportedly disappeared after she visited it.
A year prior, Catholic miracle investigators studied a Virgin Mary in Acapulco in south-western Mexico which began to 'shed tears' in front of its owners.
The saint was a Mexican version of the Virgin Mary, nicknamed la Morenita, or the brunette. Devout followers were astonished when images and videos surfaced of tears seemingly streaming down its cheeks.
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