Church officials are dictating caution after an incident in Argentina leaves many people filled with awe. An image of Christ in the small church has begun to weep what many are calling blood from a head wound from where the crown of thorns is said to have rested. The image has been sending chills up the spines of many devout believers and giving hope to throngs of people that pray for the image will prove to be genuine and give them hope.
The church has been skeptical of new claims of holy images suddenly manifesting a form of divine revelation such as a statue or icon bleeding or otherwise displaying divine properties. Additionally the challenges facing those who attempt to verify or debunk these cases are facing increased challenges as means of propagating hoaxes either out of genuine intentions of giving hope to people worldwide or to seek fame and profit from their fake images increases in its complexity. The further along the craft of perpetrating hoaxes comes the more challenging it will be for those attempting to discover the truth will be in this and many other matters of a supernatural or divine nature. As a result the church has purposefully held a sort of moratorium on divine images manifesting privately to small organizations in the hopes of not investing their time after a slew of hoaxes in 2009 and the beginning of 2010. And it appears father Jorge Gandur is not wishing to deceive people either. After the image was discovered he held a meeting to tell the public to be careful before declaring this image genuine. He furthermore cautioned that there had been hoaxes elsewhere in the past and though it may be tempting to consider this incident a factual one, that it could be devastating for some who placed their faith in a miracle that never took place.
But one must admit that the image is compelling to look at. A single gash of red flows down from the left brow past the eyes and mouth in a way many historians suggest may have been exactly like the crown of thorns. The church has been inundated with massive amounts of visitors making the pilgrimage from all over the area and church has been subsequently held mass outside to avoid dangerous overcrowding in the building. Streets are packed with people all wishing to catch a glimpse of the perplexing mystery. Father Gandur has also declared himself on the side of the people saying he will not support a hoax, and that divine wisdom would in time make it apparent whether the bleeding image was a genuine miracle or not.
In 2004 a statue of the Virgin Mary was seen to be weeping oil with a perfumed smell to it. Upon closer inspection the statue was seen to be weeping a commercially available oil that could be bought from several vendors from the area. As further analysis was done it became apparent that the statue was likely a hoax, much to the chagrin of many believers. There are, however, several other icons such as the one in Syracuse New York in 1949 that to this day remains largely unexplainable.