Church says 'weeping' statues are fakes

THE Catholic Church has officially declared the oil-seeping and "bleeding" artefacts at the Inala Vietnamese Catholic Centre as fakes.

News of the weeping, seeping artefacts swept around the world and thousands of devotees have visited the centre in Brisbane's southwest since May. The so-called phenomenon included a large plaster statue of the Virgin Mary, rosary beads, a picture of Jesus and a crucifix.

Archbishop Bathersby said a commission of investigation, headed by Dr Adrian Farrelly, had found the rose scented oil on the artefacts was "very likely one that is commercially available and it is possible that the substance was applied to them by human hands".

"The principal statue was X-rayed and the oil samples subjected to analysis by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy," he said.

"The red substance found on some of the artefacts was shown not to be blood."

The commission was "not satisfied the phenomenon was, within the proper meaning of the word, a miracle".

"Given that there is the possibility that human agency could produce the phenomenon then . . . I must declare that what has happened at Inala cannot be said to be of supernatural origin."

More: www.thecouriermail.news.com.au...

Does anyone know if there have been any proven incidences of weeping statues?

An update to the story that I found:

Man-made weeping Virgin collected $40,000

The Catholic Church says more than $40,000 was collected from people visiting a weeping statue at Inala, in Brisbane's south.

The weeping statue of the Virgin Mary was first reported in May.

Thousands flocked to see the so-called miracle, but a church investigation found the phenomenon was man-made.

Brisbane's Catholic Archbishop John Bathersby has apologised to people who feel defrauded.

"If there are still any people who feel that they would like to pursue the matter in some way, that they feel they've been defrauded in some way, we would certainly give them every help in going to the police," he said.

"We would certainly help the police in every way if they wish to investigate it."

Archbishop Bathersby ordered an investigation into the church's financial handling of the affair.

It found $41,000 had been collected by the Vietnamese Catholic Community Centre, $16,000 of which was collected from sales of statues and other religious items.

The remaining $25,000 came from increased church service collections over the 11-week period.

The Catholic Church says all profit will be donated to relief efforts in Sudan and Bangladesh.

www.abc.net.au...

[edit on 13-8-2004 by Jonna]

Bleeding statues are FAKE.

So, it took an entire team of researchers to determin that rocks don't bleed?



The Catholic Church is retarded.

Sounds like the bleeding statue scam is a real moneymaker.....too bad I live across the street from a BAPTIST church instead of a CATHOLIC one.