VENEZUELA: HUNDREDS LINE UP TO PRAY TO A STATUE OF VIRGIN MARY WHICH THEY SAY HAS BEEN CRYING TEARS OF BLOOD

Record ID: 645816

  • Title: VENEZUELA: HUNDREDS LINE UP TO PRAY TO A STATUE OF VIRGIN MARY WHICH THEY SAY HAS BEEN CRYING TEARS OF BLOOD
  • Date: 27th March 2003
  • Summary: (W8) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) SLV /MV PEOPLE QUEUING IN LINE AND ENTERING CHAPEL OF THE COLEGIO BELEN WHICH HOUSES STATUE (3 SHOTS) MV PEOPLE PRAYING AND LOOKING AT STATUE OF THE VIRGIN MARY WITH ALLEGED TEARS OF BLOOD ON HER FACE (2 SHOTS) SCU /CU STATUE MARY MYSTIC ROSE WITH ALLEGED TEARS OF BLOOD (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: General,Quirky,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8DBJDME2GQIA998TNM1DXJUNT
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Venezuelans have lined up to pray to a statue of the Virgin Mary which they say has been crying tears of blood as a call for peace in Iraq.
    Hundreds of Venezuelan Catholics have been flocking to a small chapel in Caracas where they say a Virgin Mary statue has been weeping tears of blood as a peaceful message against a the U.S.-led war against Iraq.
    Worshipers have lined up to catch a glimpse of the small Mary Mystic Rose statue at Belen (beh-LEN) College in eastern Caracas. Tracks of red stains mark the cheeks of the blue-eyed statue, which resides in an ornate wood-and-glass case inside the school's chapel.
    Workers at the school run by nuns said the statue had bled from its eyes since Monday (March 17) morning and again more heavily Wednesday (March 19) in what they saw as a message of peace.
    "What she wants is for all of us to be like brothers, that we all live in the world full of peace, united," said Sister Maritza (mar-EET-zah), who is a member of the Servants of Jesus religious order at the college.
    The statue arrived in Venezuela from Germany about three years ago and has been carried in processions throughout the predominantly Catholic South American nation.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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