Forteana: June 2004 Archives

Italy: Ah, the Italians. If they're not blaming phantom Satanic cults for murders, they're seeing things in religious icons.

Thousands of faithful and curious Italians have visited a statue of Christ after a woman said she saw the face of mystic monk Padre Pio appear on the bronze figure in the north-western city of Genoa.

The Cardinal of Genoa came to see it last night and he agreed that there was a face but said that further investigations were needed, Mauro Boccaccio, spokesman for the regional government of Liguria, said.

Statue with the face of a monk - Reuters, 20th June 2004.