- Feb 5, 2002
- 185,167
- 67,876
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
Gisella Cardia allegedly made €365,000 in donations from pilgrims to shrine in lakeside town near Rome
A self-styled mystic who drew hundreds of pilgrims to a town near Rome by claiming a statue of the Virgin Mary wept tears of blood has been sent to trial for alleged fraud.
Gisella Cardia, who also claimed the statue was transmitting messages to her, will be tried along with her husband, Gianni Cardia, in April next year.
They are accused of staging fake apparitionsof the Virgin Mary and making false predictions of catastrophes to attract donations from their Catholic followers.
Cardia drew hundreds of people each month to Trevignano Romano, a lakeside town near Rome, to pray before the statue, which had been placed in a makeshift shrine on a hill. Over several years, the alleged scam generated €365,000 (£322,000) in donations from the pilgrims, who believed their money would go towards setting up a centre for sick children.
Continued below.
www.theguardian.com
A self-styled mystic who drew hundreds of pilgrims to a town near Rome by claiming a statue of the Virgin Mary wept tears of blood has been sent to trial for alleged fraud.
Gisella Cardia, who also claimed the statue was transmitting messages to her, will be tried along with her husband, Gianni Cardia, in April next year.
They are accused of staging fake apparitionsof the Virgin Mary and making false predictions of catastrophes to attract donations from their Catholic followers.
Cardia drew hundreds of people each month to Trevignano Romano, a lakeside town near Rome, to pray before the statue, which had been placed in a makeshift shrine on a hill. Over several years, the alleged scam generated €365,000 (£322,000) in donations from the pilgrims, who believed their money would go towards setting up a centre for sick children.
Continued below.
Italian ‘mystic’ faces fraud trial over claim Virgin Mary statue wept blood
Gisella Cardia allegedly made €365,000 in donations from pilgrims to shrine in lakeside town near Rome
