• Pontifical Mariana International Academy says there are scores of situations to probe
• Holy See institution hope to uncover phenomena like ‘weeping’ statues of Mary

A Vatican academy is set to investigate ‘mystical phenomena’ about the planet like ‘weeping’ statues of the Virgin Mary, stigmata and ghost sightings below plans for a new committed observatory.

The Pontifical Mariana International Academy (PAMI), which describes itself as a scientific institution of the Holy See, will hope to uncover ‘around a hundred ongoing phenomena’ in Italy alone.

The specialist observatory, which is nonetheless awaiting authenticity by the Church, will ‘evaluate and study apparitions and mystical phenomena’ across the globe, Vatican News reports.

It will delve into ghost sightings, interior locutions and stigmata – which believers see as bodily marks, scars or pains corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. 

Speaking about the launch of the new Observatory Scientific Committee, Mariologist Father Gian Matteo Roggio told neighborhood Italian media: ‘In Italy there are about a hundred ongoing phenomena that the Church is following closely.

The Pontifical Mariana International Academy (PAMI), which describes itself as a scientific institution of the Holy See, will hope to uncover ‘around a hundred ongoing phenomena’ in Italy alone. Pictured: St Peter’s Square, Vatican City

‘Many of these are neighborhood and restricted in scope, not all of them get interest from the media and the basic public.’ 

PAMI, which will start its first session on Saturday, had been maintaining its eye on a curious case involving a weeping Mary statue in Trevignano, close to Rome.

It involved an Italian lady facing an investigation for fraud following claiming her Virgin Mary statue could cry tears of blood and multiply gnocchi and pizza.

Thousands flocked to see Gisella Cardia’s predictions following her statue of Our Lady of Trevignano Romano started weeping blood.

Followers believed she brought messages from Mary and some mentioned she’d even predicted the COVID pandemic.

But Cardia, 53, has been exposed as a fraud following church investigators found the blood her statue wept was not holy and in fact came from a pig, according to neighborhood media.  

Officials think she has now fled following fleecing her followers with tens of thousands of Euros in donations. 

PAMI’s new observatory is also set to introduce neighborhood scientific committees in order to generate a bigger network for far more probes.

PAMI, which will start its initially session on Saturday, had been maintaining its eye on a curious case involving a weeping Mary statue (pictured) in Trevignano, close to Rome Gisella Cardia (pictured), 53, has been exposed as a fraud following church investigators found the blood her statue wept was not holy and in fact came from a pig

Father Stefano Cecchin, portion of the committee explained: ‘The objective of the Observatory [is] to activate national and international commissions to evaluate and study apparitions and mystical phenomena reported in a variety of regions of the planet.

He added: ‘[It will] market updating and coaching activities on this kind of events and their various spiritual and cultural meanings, market higher dissemination and consultancy activities, particularly at the service of neighborhood Churches and bishops, but also trans-disciplinary study activities in concert with academic institutions, each lay and ecclesiastical, and the publication of the benefits of the researches carried out.’

Fellow committee member Father Roggio has previously spoken on the subject of mystical phenomena, notably in 2021 when he revealed that demand for exorcisms boomed for the duration of the pandemic.

The Catholic priest told The Telegraph at the time: ‘We have noticed an boost in the request for exorcisms for the reason that the pandemic has produced folks far more vulnerable to the concept that Satan or some evil entity has taken more than their lives.

‘People have fallen into poverty they discovered themselves suffering from anxiousness and depression. They really feel that their lives are no longer in their personal hands but in the hands of a malign force. It is a large crisis.’

He was speaking at a six-day international conference exactly where far more than one hundred priests and bishops from about the planet gathered in Rome to attend the world’s only recognised course on exorcism.