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Topics: Religion, News, World News
Niamh Shackleton
DNA test results seemingly refute a woman's claims that a statue of the Virgin Mary 'cried blood'.
Back in 2016, Gisella Cardia purchased a statue of the Catholic figure at a religious site in Medjugorje, Bosnia, and took it home with her to Trevignano Romano, Italy.
Cardia went on to make a serious of claims about the statue, including that it 'cried blood' and conveyed messages to her in an apparent miracle.
With its supposed supernatural powers in mind, people flocked to visit the effigy, with Cardia going on to receive thousands in donations.
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But Cardia faced accusations of fraud by prosecutors in Civitavecchia in 2023 after it was alleged that the blood on the statue was actually pig's blood.
As part of the investigation, DNA swabs were taken form the Virgin Mary figure and the results have recently been revealed.
The first set of results confirmed that the blood was that of a human woman, and now further details have emerged.
As per Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, laboratory tests have found traces of Cardia's DNA in the blood that was on statue.
But her lawyer has argued that doesn't necessarily mean that the whole thing was a sham and that it all comes to down whether the DNA is single-profile or mixed.
With this in mind, she's called for further investigations.
Solange Marchignoli said: "From a scientific point of view, the DNA stain deserves further investigation.
"We are waiting to know if it is a mixed or single profile: if the profile is single, it means that it is only Cardia's and she put it there, so in this case we would go to trial, but if, as expected, the profile is mixed, it means that the DNA found on the statue also contains Gisella's DNA, which we expect because she used the statuette, kissed it and handled it."
Marchignoli went on to argue that her client 'is moved by a deep faith and has nothing to gain from this', adding that Cardi is 'not crazy'.
The DNA results come after the the Diocese of Civita Castellana conducted its own investigation into the matter and ruled that the events in question were 'non-supernatural'.
In a statement issued in May 2024, the religious organization said on behalf of the bishop of Civita Castellana, Marco Salvi: "After an appropriate period of careful discernment, having listened to the testimonies coming from the [diocesan] territory and making use of a commission of experts, made up of a Mariologist, a theologian, a canonist, a psychologist, and with the outside advice of some specialists, having considered the figure of Mary in the Tradition of the Church and in the living faith of the people of God, after fervent prayer, decrees the events in question to be non-supernatural."