A “mystic” who conned hundreds of pilgrims with a fake blood weeping statue of Mary is facing a trial after she was caught in a lie by a DNA test.
Gisella Cardia claimed to have been receiving messages from a statue of the Virgin Mary in Trevignano Romano, a town outside Rome, Italy. The statue, which was mounted in a glass case on a hill in the community, started drawing massive crowds after it was seen weeping blood, a supposedly supernatural phenomenon suggesting some kind of divine blessing.
Hundreds of pilgrims started flocking to the town, which overlooks Lake Bracciano, many of whom made donations to a foundation established by Cardia, which she claimed would go towards setting up a centre for sick children. Some of them have alleged they were defrauded by the woman after she was accused of faking the phenomenon.
Cardia had bought the statue in 2016 from a Catholic pilgrimage site in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later featured it at the centre of the pilgrimage site she created in the town, where entranced pilgrims arrived to view the blood stains on its face. The self-proclaimed mystic, who has a previous conviction for bankruptcy fraud, has since reportedly left Trevignano, according to local publication Corriere della Sera.
In 2023, a private investigator suggested she was faking the weeping using pig’s blood, triggering a fraud investigation by prosecutors in the port city of Civitavecchia. They ordered lab tests from forensic geneticist Emiliano Giardina, della Sera reported, who later attributed blood stains on the statue to Cardia’s genetic profile.
Prosecutors are expected to receive the results on February 28, but Cardia’s lawyer Solange Marchignoli has suggested they do not rule out a supernatural presence on the statue. Ms Marchignoli argued the stain demands further investigation as to whether it may include more than one profile.
She said: “The DNA stain warrants further investigation. We are waiting to find out whether it’s a mixed or single profile.” The lawyer also argued it would be obvious that the statue would exhibit traces of Cardia’s DNA, as she had previously “kissed and handled the statue”.
Astonishingly, the lawyer even suggested her DNA could even be mixed in with the blood of the Virgin Mary herself. She said: “Who can say? Do you know the Madonna’s DNA?” Ms Marchignoli suggested her client is “moved by a deep faith”, arguing she had “nothing to gain” from the alleged fraud.
She said: “I don’t know where she’s currently praying, but I know for a fact that she is moved by a deep faith and has nothing to gain from this.”
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