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Saint sheds tears of blood
11/12/2003 10:53 - (SA)
Rome - Dozens of people have been gathering to pray before a statue of the beloved Italian saint Padre Pio, which witnesses say has been shedding tears of blood for several days, news reports said on Wednesday.
Already, a private clinic in the southern Italian region of Reggio Calabria has confirmed that the substance emerging from the statue is a man's blood, the Ansa news agency reported. Within a few days, more official tests are due from Italian carabinieri police labs.
Reports of weeping statues in Italy are not unusual. In 1995, for example, more than a dozen such claims were reported in one year. And just last year, there were reports of a bleeding statue of Padre Pio in Messina, just across the Straits of Messina from Reggio Calabria.
In the recent case, the blood was first spotted on December 2 on the statue in the town of Brancaleone, the town vice-mayor Gentile Scaramozzino told Ansa.
Since then, people have been coming to pray before the statue, and on Wednesday police were called in to prevent the faithful from swabbing the "tears" with handkerchiefs to take home samples of the blood.
The Vatican has consistently been cautious about such reports and prefers to leave the handling of such a sighting in the hands of the local bishop.
But even local churchmen have been cautious about the latest reports.
Ansa quoted the pastor of the local church, the Rev Leone Stillitano, as saying it was "premature" to make any pronouncement about the substance, and what it might mean, before all the tests are in.
Pope John Paul II elevated Padre Pio to sainthood in June.
The monk, who died in 1968, was considered the first priest in centuries to show signs of the stigmata, or the wounds suffered by Jesus at his crucifixion, in hands, feet and side.
Countless faithful in Italy and around the world pray to Padre Pio for miracles.
- AFP
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South Africa
