"Hollow Italian statue has plastic tubes in eyes powered by common fishtank aereator that spurts fake blood --- Thousands of superstitious country simpletons insist it's a miracle."
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Religious faith is fine but it hinges on pathetic to run around looking for "a sign" everywhere. Strong faith requires no magic acts from God.
This is bigger news in Italy than the bleeding statue -- as Padre Pio's canonization is expected to draw one of the largest crowds ever to the Vatican.
There is the famous story -- documented in more than one book that when the United States tried to bomb the town he lived in Italy during World War II, he appeared in the clouds.
One account I read was that a General leading the flight thought that seeing a monk in the clouds on a mission to bomb a monastery was a good sign not to bomb the monastery. He called off the mission. He later visited San Gioviani Rotundo, and when he went to Mass, he identified Padre Pio as the Monk in the clouds waving his planes off.
In a different account, the bomb release jammed even though they made two passes at bombing the town. But in this account, not only did a monk appear in the clouds but a woman holding a child as well as a man with a bloody sword.
Airmen who saw this later identified the monk as Padre Pio, and the woman and child a as the statue of Mary and the infant Jesus in the church at the monastery of Padre Pio.
As for the man with a sword dripping blood? A few miles from Padre Pio's monastery is a sanctuary dedicated to the Archangel St Michael (my patron saint). The airmen identified the statue of St Michael as the other "man holding the sword".
And many of the miracles when Padre Pio was alive was far greater than any statue crying blood...
But Padre Pio when he was alive gave an indication as to why he might be crying blood from a statue.
After World War II, he feared the coming time because of the evil coming into the world. However, I would have to dig to find that reference -- as I can't remember which book on Padre Pio I read that in...