DNA Test in Italy Exposes Fraud Behind 'Bloody Tears' of Virgin Mary Statue
In Italy, scientists conducted a DNA analysis of the red liquid that appeared on the statue of the Virgin Mary and was considered to be ‘bloody tears’. This phenomenon attracted hundreds of pilgrims from different countries and was perceived as a miracle. This was reported by The Guardian and IFLScience.
The study found that this liquid is the blood of Italian Gisella Cardia, a woman who organised pilgrimages around the statue and claimed to ‘communicate’ with the saint.
In 2016, Cardia, who had previously been convicted of fraud, purchased a statue of the Virgin Mary in a Catholic pilgrimage town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Later, she created a pilgrimage centre in Trevigliano Romano, Italy, where the statue was placed behind glass on a local hill.
Believers came to this place en masse to see the ‘miracle’, as Cardia claimed that the statue ‘cries bloody tears’. She also claimed to receive messages from the Virgin Mary and allegedly had the ability to ‘multiply food’.
Some pilgrims subsequently complained that Cardia had misled them into collecting donations for a centre for sick children.
In 2023, a private investigator claimed that the statue's ‘bloody tears’ were the blood of a pig.
The Catholic Church initiated an investigation. In 2024, the Diocese of Civita Castelanna, with the participation of religious officials, a psychologist, theologians and ‘outside experts’, concluded that there was no supernatural phenomenon in this case.
The Italian prosecutor's office also launched an investigation into Cardia's activities. Forensic geneticist Emiliano Gargin conducted laboratory tests of the liquid on the statue. According to Corriere della Sera, the analysis showed that the blood stains matched Cardia's genetic profile. The results will be handed over to the prosecutor's office on 28 February.
Lawyer Solange Marchignoli said that her client, Gisella Cardia, had left Trevignano and her whereabouts were unknown.