Ananova, Feb. 18, 2003
http://www.ananova.com/
Hundreds of people have flocked to a church in Bangladesh to witness the ‘miracle’ of tears rolling down the cheeks of a statue of the Virgin Mary.
The crowds gathered after a guard at the Catholic Church at Patherghata near the port city of Chittagong, reported tears on the marble statue.
The Bishop of the church and other clergymen have reportedly convened a meeting to investigate the phenomenon.
A police contingent has been deployed to control the rush of visitors to the church.
The statue was imported from Italy and installed in 1928 and has been kept in an airtight glass box.
Saroj Kanti Sinha Hazari, professor of Chemistry at Chittagong University, told the Bangladesh Independent: “Rolling down of water from a marble statue has no scientific basis. But some people in our country believe in such miracles.”
But a spokesman for a local Catholic association claimed the Virgin was weeping to remind the people to pray for peace in a strife-torn world.