Madonnas Who Weep Blood

The ZDF (German Television Two) is showing a three part series about the miracles and unusual occurances in the Church -- following an idea from Andreas Englisch -- First part is available -- kathTube-special: The Tears of the Madonna of Syracuse.

Mainz [kath.net] Madonnas weeping blood, people, who are suddenly cured of serious illnesses or supposedly bear the wounds of Jesus: Are the unexplained phenomena signs of God's influence or deception of charlatanry? And why does the Catholic Church need miracles? The three part documentary "Power of Miracles -- The Secrets of the Vatican" began yesterday, Tuesday, the 26th of October. The following episodes are set for Tuesday at 20.15. The idea for the film comes finally from Andreas Englisch, the former Vatican Correspondent of the newspaper BILD.

The investigation follows authors Volker Schmidt-Sonderman and Peter Syudow in the wings of the Vatican, but also the holy sites throughout the entire world. People explain initially "their" miracles for the camera, experts contracted by ZDF attempt to explain the miracles with scientific methods. And finally it gets to the question, why Pope John Paul II., who more people raise "to the honor of the altars" than any of his predecessors, is to be canonized.

Part I, "When Madonnas Weep", explains among other things a story from Civitavecchia, where in 1995 a statue of the Mother of God in the garden of the family Gregori should have wept blood for give consecutive days.. Thousands of pilgrims have drawn to this village north of Rome. Actually, the Vatican doesn't recognize the "miracle". The statue was taken away and medically tested -- proof can not be obtained. Only one "weeping miracle" has been recognized by the Vatican up to this point, it is said to have happened in 1953 in Syracuse, Sicily. The ZDF-Three part series takes the objections and shows exciting components: how does the strict Congregation decide what are miracles, and which are not? Which role does the "voice of the people" play? And why did John Paul II have a Marian statue brought from Civitavecchia to Rome, in order to pray to her?

Part 2, "When those marked by death come back to life", runs on Tuesday, November 2nd, 20.15 hrs, among other things in the Marian Shrine of Medjugorje, where the Mother of God is said to regularly appear before six seers. More than fifty million people, among them many priests, have pilgrimaged, to a site which the Vatican has refused recognition.

"Who fights with the devil" is the title of the 3rd part of the documentary, which will air at the same time as the previous two. One of the features of this show will be the Capuccin priest, Padre Pio, who was canoized by John Paul II. in 2002 . This was astonishing, above all for the reason that his predecessor held Padre Pio, who is said to have born the wounds of Jesus and had the power of bilocation, for a swindler and a cheat.

Video of the Madonna Weeping of Syracuse.