Was this a true miracle — or just a religious sob story?
Church-goers in Mexico claimed to have witnessed a miracle after spotting a statue of the Virgin Mary that appeared to have real tears rolling down her cheeks.
Accompanying footage shows the statue, named the Virgin of Dolores, encased in glass, with a water droplet seemingly emerging from the statue’s eye and running down her face.
Mary reportedly drew throngs of skeptics and believers alike, with many pilgrims claiming that it was a sign from God.
“So, a couple of tears started flowing,” cry-witness Víctor Ramos told CEN of the alleged “phenomenon,” which occurred at a church in the town of El Chanal, located in the state of Colima and north of the capital city with that same name.
“Similarly, when we cry, and our eyes become red, the same happens to the image,” Ramos further insisted of the alleged divine sob session.
Many locals believed the misty-eyed Mary was weeping for the violence plaguing Colima, whose capital was ranked the most violent city in the world in 2022.
As of October, the Colima Prosecutor’s Office recorded 702 confirmed intentional homicides in the state, many of which stem from the fact that the city is a hotbed of drug cartel activity.
“We can associate it with … the violence rates that are being experienced here in the state of Colima, also here in the community,” Ramos claimed.
According to a report by the U.S. Congress, the region is contested by at least four major cartels — Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Sinaloa, Santa Rosa de Lima and Cárteles Unidos — and authorities are powerless to stop the violence.
As such, residents are praying to the “crying” idol to stop the violence.
“May she give us peace in Colima and throughout the world, that we may return to the Colima of before,” said visitor Maria Mercedes Hernandez.
Some skeptics, though, had a more scientific explanation for the weeping, with Italian chemistry professor and Shroud of Turin naysayer Luigi Garlaschelli attributing the statue’s ability to absorb moisture due to its porousness.
“You need a hollow statue made of plaster or ceramic, which must be covered on the outside with a waterproof layer,” he explained. “By filling the statue with water through an imperceptible hole at the top, the porous material will absorb it, but the outer layer will prevent it from coming out.”
However, if the protective glaze were to get scratched near Mary’s eyes, the absorbed water would leak out — giving the illusion that the statue was crying, according to the professor.
This isn’t the first time a replica of Jesus’ mother has been seen allegedly shedding a tear.
In 2019, worshippers flocked to the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago to witness a “weeping” painting of the Virgin Mary that they believe was mourning the institution’s pending foreclosure.
Meanwhile, the Catholic diocese in the New Mexico city of Las Cruces launched an investigation into a “crying” sculpture of the messiah’s mother in a Hobbs church located there.
A chemical analysis of the liquid revealed that it was — somewhat suspiciously — fragrant olive oil of the type used for baptisms and other holy purposes.
Nonetheless, the diocese’s bishop said that the revelation did not preclude the occurrence from being a miracle.