The Catholic Church has set up a task force to tackle a growing number of gurus who claim they communicate with the Virgin Mary. One even says she can magic up mystic pizzas on demand.
A woman in Rome claims her statue of the saint can spirit up slices of pizza and has hundreds of followers. But Vatican chiefs say she is one of thousands who claim to have a private relationship with the Madonna, reports the Daily Star.
The clampdown Is being led by Father Stefano Cecchin, head of the Mariana Internationalis pontifical academy, as the church believes the claims cause confusion, promote apocalyptic scenarios and even make accusations against the Pope and the church.
The initiative was launched as Gisella Cardia , 53, went into her monthly trance on a hilltop at Trevignano, near the Italian capital, before a statue of the Madonna she claims sheds tears of blood. Watched by 250 devotees she read out predictions supposedly passed to her by the Virgin.
She has a fraud conviction in her native Sicily and has boasted she witnessed an inexplicable multiplication of pizza and gnocchi portions prepared for her followers. Cardia, who turned up for her appointment with Mary this week flanked by bodyguards, has been ordered by the local mayor to remove benches and a marquee that were set up on the hill without permission along with a statue of the Madonna.
"They have accused me of everything: blasphemy, heresy, even prostitution," she told her followers. "I intend to stay right here."
Cardia bought the statue in 2016 in Medjugorje in Bosnia, which has become a pilgrimage hub since six local children said they saw visions of Mary in 1981. The mystic's claims have put the Vatican in a difficult position. It does not want to stop devotees praying to Mary but is determined to avoid Catholicism being hijacked by fraudsters.
Cardia's followers say she draws more people to her events than show up to Mass. "You need to open your heart and trust Gisella," one said. "In 2019 she predicted Covid. Mary told her an epidemic was coming from China and that vaccines had no use. That's why I didn't get vaccinated.'"
