Gisella Cardia, pictured in May 2023 during a television broadcast in Rome, Italy, has been charged. Massimo Di Vita/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images Rome —

A self-styled clairvoyant who said a statue of the Virgin Mary cried tears of blood and claimed she could multiply gnocchi for her followers, has been charged with fraud, along with her husband. They are due to stand trial in April.

For years, faithful Catholic pilgrims flocked to a field outside Rome, belonging to Gisella Cardia – born Maria Giuseppa Scarpulla – and her husband Gianni Cardia, to pray in front of the statue of the Madonna of Trevignano. The statue was said to weep blood and transmit messages Gisella Cardia claimed were both from God and Satan, according to court documents.

The couple, who have been denounced

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