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On the third of every month, hundreds of believers gather in a windswept field in a village near Rome where they believe a statue of the Virgin Mary weeps tears.
They also come to see the 53-year-old woman who they believe has been performing miracles and curing the sick since she brought the statuette home from a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where many Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appears since 1981.
Gisella Cardia She claims that the statue was responsible for a recent development in Christ’s miracle of the loaves and fish, feeding visitors to her home in Trevignano Romano of never-dwindling pizza.
“It was a pizza for four and we ate 25,” she told an Italian YouTube channel. “We were shocked!”
On another occasion, Cardia claimed to have fed others leftover gnocchi that never ran out no matter how much she ran out of it.
Believers say Cardia is the visionary, claiming she predicted the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic, and her body was marked by scars from Christ’s wounds from crucifixion.
In a country where three-quarters of the population still identifies as Catholic, the case has rekindled the public’s fascination with the supernatural – even more so because it had echoes of a hit TV series, “The Miracle.”
But many of Trevignano’s picturesque, wealthy residents are deeply skeptical of what they call a “giant scam,” with some nearly falling out with the crowds of pilgrims who turn up each month.
“If this is not true – which I probably think – people’s vulnerability will be exploited when many people are vulnerable,” pensioner Maria Alessandra Conte told AFP.
“And that pisses me off,” added the 72-year-old. “There are a lot of annoying elements.”
Chief among them are Cardia’s conviction for bankruptcy fraud in 2013 and the charity the former businesswoman founded to help patients.
Although amplified by donations – with one man giving 123,000 euros ($134,000) – some say their generosity has been misused.
Then in March, a private investigator said tests showed the statue’s tears were of pig’s blood. Prosecutors are now investigating Cardia, and the shrine she erected on a hill outside the village on Lake Bracciano is threatened with demolition.
The local Catholic bishop, Monsignor Marco Salvi, ordered his clergy not to deal with the shrine, and told the faithful to stay away from it.
A church commission of inquiry made up of independent experts is now looking into this phenomenon.
But Father Salvatore Perella, the influential head of a theological group in Rome devoted to the study of the Virgin Mary, made no secret of his hostility.
“We have known for some time that these so-called visions are not reliable at all,” he told AFP.
“Trevignano should not be counted among the apparitions” of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Nevertheless, the faithful continue to flock to the hilltop shrine of Cardia with its altar, large blue cross, and life-size statue of the Virgin Mary.
Since the “Virgin of Tears” in Syracuse, Sicily began to weep in 1953 – the only weeping statue recognized Pope – Italy has witnessed countless strange or unexplained phenomena around religious statues.
The oldest and most famous is the cult of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, an ampoule of her blood spilled three times a year according to popular tradition.
Gnomes outside of Italy excreting water, oil, or perfume have been reported as far away as Akita in Japan and Naju in South Korea.
The Catholic Church says some of them are “scientifically inexplicable”.
Scientists say many of them have rational explanations such as condensation, falling varnish, or chemical reactions between paint and air.
However, Romy Souvaire, a sociologist from CRNS in France who specializes in faith, said that “science cannot shake faith.”
“Scholars can say whatever they want and they (believers) will not believe them because they felt it and saw it with their own eyes.”
While Pope Francis warned of some “apparitions” in June in a thinly veiled reference to the “Virgin of Treffinano,” some of his predecessors were not so reticent. John Paul II has been supportive of another “Miracle” plaster statuette from Medjugorje that has been drawing crowds to Civitavecchia, an hour’s drive from Trevignano, since 1995.
A family there claims to have seen her cry on 14 separate occasions.
Although not officially recognized by the Vatican, enthusiasm around the statue has not waned over the years, with the small statue housed in a church on the edge of the port city north of Rome.
Photos on display inside show her cheeks red with blood, with tents outside to welcome visitors, and vendors selling religious icons and statues of the Virgin.
However, blood analysis showed that it came from a man. However, the men of the family who own the statue stubbornly refuse to take DNA tests.
On the other side of the Adriatic Sea in Medjugorje, where both statues were made, locals strongly believe in apparitions that have taken place there since 1981.
Every day, 20 Ivan Perotina workers make about 400 statues from a mixture of crushed stone and synthetic resin, which is famous for its resistance to all weather conditions.
Perotina told AFP that in the two decades he’s been making it, he’s heard about “some things that are out of the ordinary.”
Like customers in Portugal who mentioned that the statuette smelled of roses and lavender even though “we didn’t add anything to it,” he insisted. A worker explained that the statuettes are solid, so nothing can be placed inside them.
Asked if there was any way she could have been tampered with, Perottina replied, “Oh no! God save us from that!”
The Catholic Church tends to be wary of these cases, leaving their dioceses to pronounce.
Father Perella said, “One cannot at all base one’s faith on the credulity of people.” “Precisely because of its experience in these situations, the Vatican is very rigorous and requires bishops to be equally rigorous in their investigations.”
And in April, the Vatican created the Observatory of Apparitions and Mysterious Phenomena related to the figure of the Virgin Mary to help bishops, because “many do not know how to deal with the subject,” its president, Father Stefano Chaiquin, told AFP.
Its principal, Sister Daniela del Gaudio, said there was a whole protocol that needed to be followed.
Before deciding on a case, “the[investigation]committee shall interrogate its protagonists… its members, who are doctors, lawyers, etc., have their own competence and work in a scientific manner. You also have to consider the morals of the Dreamers and their physical and psychological condition.”
She added, “The Church believes in the supernatural, but it must also be very wise.”
Experts say these types of phenomena also tend to multiply in times of war and crisis, thriving alongside conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Some people are always convinced that they are “living in a prophetic time,” said Professor Roberto Francesco Scalone, a specialist in religions at the University of Turin.
“When there’s a lot of uncertainty because of a pandemic or economic problems, people are looking for answers and for hope,” said fellow sociologist Sauvire.
Despite the scandal surrounding it, the group behind the Virgin of Trevignano still invites the faithful to congregate at the shrine on the third of every month, even if numbers drop in July. “Don’t listen to the rumours,” one of its leaders told AFP. Fake news is everywhere today.
They also come to see the 53-year-old woman who they believe has been performing miracles and curing the sick since she brought the statuette home from a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where many Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appears since 1981.
Gisella Cardia She claims that the statue was responsible for a recent development in Christ’s miracle of the loaves and fish, feeding visitors to her home in Trevignano Romano of never-dwindling pizza.
“It was a pizza for four and we ate 25,” she told an Italian YouTube channel. “We were shocked!”
On another occasion, Cardia claimed to have fed others leftover gnocchi that never ran out no matter how much she ran out of it.
Believers say Cardia is the visionary, claiming she predicted the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic, and her body was marked by scars from Christ’s wounds from crucifixion.
In a country where three-quarters of the population still identifies as Catholic, the case has rekindled the public’s fascination with the supernatural – even more so because it had echoes of a hit TV series, “The Miracle.”
But many of Trevignano’s picturesque, wealthy residents are deeply skeptical of what they call a “giant scam,” with some nearly falling out with the crowds of pilgrims who turn up each month.
“If this is not true – which I probably think – people’s vulnerability will be exploited when many people are vulnerable,” pensioner Maria Alessandra Conte told AFP.
“And that pisses me off,” added the 72-year-old. “There are a lot of annoying elements.”
Chief among them are Cardia’s conviction for bankruptcy fraud in 2013 and the charity the former businesswoman founded to help patients.
Although amplified by donations – with one man giving 123,000 euros ($134,000) – some say their generosity has been misused.
Then in March, a private investigator said tests showed the statue’s tears were of pig’s blood. Prosecutors are now investigating Cardia, and the shrine she erected on a hill outside the village on Lake Bracciano is threatened with demolition.
The local Catholic bishop, Monsignor Marco Salvi, ordered his clergy not to deal with the shrine, and told the faithful to stay away from it.
A church commission of inquiry made up of independent experts is now looking into this phenomenon.
But Father Salvatore Perella, the influential head of a theological group in Rome devoted to the study of the Virgin Mary, made no secret of his hostility.
“We have known for some time that these so-called visions are not reliable at all,” he told AFP.
“Trevignano should not be counted among the apparitions” of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Nevertheless, the faithful continue to flock to the hilltop shrine of Cardia with its altar, large blue cross, and life-size statue of the Virgin Mary.
Since the “Virgin of Tears” in Syracuse, Sicily began to weep in 1953 – the only weeping statue recognized Pope – Italy has witnessed countless strange or unexplained phenomena around religious statues.
The oldest and most famous is the cult of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, an ampoule of her blood spilled three times a year according to popular tradition.
Gnomes outside of Italy excreting water, oil, or perfume have been reported as far away as Akita in Japan and Naju in South Korea.
The Catholic Church says some of them are “scientifically inexplicable”.
Scientists say many of them have rational explanations such as condensation, falling varnish, or chemical reactions between paint and air.
However, Romy Souvaire, a sociologist from CRNS in France who specializes in faith, said that “science cannot shake faith.”
“Scholars can say whatever they want and they (believers) will not believe them because they felt it and saw it with their own eyes.”
While Pope Francis warned of some “apparitions” in June in a thinly veiled reference to the “Virgin of Treffinano,” some of his predecessors were not so reticent. John Paul II has been supportive of another “Miracle” plaster statuette from Medjugorje that has been drawing crowds to Civitavecchia, an hour’s drive from Trevignano, since 1995.
A family there claims to have seen her cry on 14 separate occasions.
Although not officially recognized by the Vatican, enthusiasm around the statue has not waned over the years, with the small statue housed in a church on the edge of the port city north of Rome.
Photos on display inside show her cheeks red with blood, with tents outside to welcome visitors, and vendors selling religious icons and statues of the Virgin.
However, blood analysis showed that it came from a man. However, the men of the family who own the statue stubbornly refuse to take DNA tests.
On the other side of the Adriatic Sea in Medjugorje, where both statues were made, locals strongly believe in apparitions that have taken place there since 1981.
Every day, 20 Ivan Perotina workers make about 400 statues from a mixture of crushed stone and synthetic resin, which is famous for its resistance to all weather conditions.
Perotina told AFP that in the two decades he’s been making it, he’s heard about “some things that are out of the ordinary.”
Like customers in Portugal who mentioned that the statuette smelled of roses and lavender even though “we didn’t add anything to it,” he insisted. A worker explained that the statuettes are solid, so nothing can be placed inside them.
Asked if there was any way she could have been tampered with, Perottina replied, “Oh no! God save us from that!”
The Catholic Church tends to be wary of these cases, leaving their dioceses to pronounce.
Father Perella said, “One cannot at all base one’s faith on the credulity of people.” “Precisely because of its experience in these situations, the Vatican is very rigorous and requires bishops to be equally rigorous in their investigations.”
And in April, the Vatican created the Observatory of Apparitions and Mysterious Phenomena related to the figure of the Virgin Mary to help bishops, because “many do not know how to deal with the subject,” its president, Father Stefano Chaiquin, told AFP.
Its principal, Sister Daniela del Gaudio, said there was a whole protocol that needed to be followed.
Before deciding on a case, “the[investigation]committee shall interrogate its protagonists… its members, who are doctors, lawyers, etc., have their own competence and work in a scientific manner. You also have to consider the morals of the Dreamers and their physical and psychological condition.”
She added, “The Church believes in the supernatural, but it must also be very wise.”
Experts say these types of phenomena also tend to multiply in times of war and crisis, thriving alongside conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Some people are always convinced that they are “living in a prophetic time,” said Professor Roberto Francesco Scalone, a specialist in religions at the University of Turin.
“When there’s a lot of uncertainty because of a pandemic or economic problems, people are looking for answers and for hope,” said fellow sociologist Sauvire.
Despite the scandal surrounding it, the group behind the Virgin of Trevignano still invites the faithful to congregate at the shrine on the third of every month, even if numbers drop in July. “Don’t listen to the rumours,” one of its leaders told AFP. Fake news is everywhere today.
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