PERTH, Australia - A statue of the Virgin Mary that allegedly began weeping rose-scented tears has caused a frenzy among Roman Catholics in western Australia, with thousands flocking to a local church to see the phenomenon.
But skeptics say the weeping is probably a trick or the result of some type of condensation on the statue.
The fiberglass statue is displayed on Sundays at a church in Rockingham, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Perth. It was loaned by a parishioner who said it first wept oil-like, rose-scented tears in March, during the Feast of St. Joseph.
The parishioner, Patty Powell, said she bought the statue at a religious shop in Thailand for 150 Australian dollars (dlrs 82) eight years ago.
It cried again at Easter and began weeping continuously in August, Powell said.
About 3,000 people — hundreds of them sick or in wheelchairs — queued for hours at the church on Sunday to file past the statue.
But the head of the local branch of the Australian Skeptics Association said Monday the weeping could probably be explained.
"Either this is a miracle and that means the whole of science can be written off for the last 2,000 years, or it's a natural phenomenon that can be readily explained — or it could be a trick," said John Happs, a university science lecturer. "I don't think it's all that difficult to make a statue weep."
Happs said the teardrops should be analyzed to see if they were real.
The Catholic Church in Australia was not immediately available for comment.