Court Rules Out DNA Tests on Icon’s Tears
Italy’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled out DNA testing to determine the source of bloody tears on a 15-inch-high plaster statue of the Virgin Mary.
The court declared that ordering anyone to undergo a DNA test infringes on personal liberty.
A magistrate in Civitavecchia north of Rome had earlier ordered the statue’s owner, Fabio Gregori, and his family to undergo the tests in a probe into the origins of the tears.
The statue, which Gregori bought in Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, has become an object of veneration for thousands of pilgrims from all over Italy.
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