Gisella Cardia and the Trevignano Madonna: The Church's Verdict and the Fraud Trial

What happened on the hill at Trevignano?

Picture the 3rd of the month on a hill above Lake Bracciano, about an hour north of Rome. A bus pulls in. You walk up a long rocky path with a rosary in your hand. At the top there is a fenced field, a large cross, and a statue of Our Lady in a glass case. Hundreds of people kneel on the grass. Someone reads out the miracles. Then a woman in her fifties looks up into the sky, and the crowd goes quiet, because they believe the Mother of God is speaking to her.

That was the scene at Trevignano Romano for years. El País, which attended the gathering of 3 April 2024, described a crowd waiting for "the psychic" and one pilgrim who said: "I wouldn't come here if I didn't think something supernatural was happening."

The woman is Gisella Cardia, whose legal name is Maria Giuseppa Scarpulla. From 2016 she said that the Virgin Mary appeared to her and gave a message on the 3rd of every month, and that Jesus and God the Father sometimes spoke too (Vatican News, 28 June 2024). Her followers said a small statue of Our Lady that, by her account, came from Medjugorje wept tears of blood. They also said food multiplied in her house, gnocchi and pizza included (El País, 9 April 2024).

Many people who came were sick, grieving or afraid. Some gave large sums. That is why this case matters to you. The people on that hill loved Our Lady. Their love was real. The question the Church had to answer was whether the woman at the centre of it was telling the truth.

What did the Church decide about Trevignano?

The Church investigated, ruled the events not supernatural, and banned devotion connected to them. The record is short and clear.

14 April 2023. Bishop Marco Salvi, newly installed in Civita Castellana, published a statement asking the faithful not to attend the events Cardia was holding (Catholic News Agency via EWTN News, 8 March 2024). The same month he set up an inquiry.

April 2023 to January 2024. A commission made up of a Mariologist, a theologian, a canonist and a psychologist, with outside specialists, examined the case. It delivered initial findings on 30 May 2023 and a final report in January 2024. Aleteia reported on 7 March 2024 that Cardia underwent a psychological assessment by a team of five experts, and that the commission found "contradictions" in her testimony, "inconsistency" between her account and her husband's, and concluded she was "unreliable". It found the messages critical of the Church as an institution, a cause of "division" among Catholics, and full of "numerous theological errors".

6 March 2024: the decree. The diocese announced that the bishop, "after an appropriate period of careful discernment, having listened to the testimonies coming from the territory and making use of a commission of experts... after fervent prayer, decrees the events in question to be non-supernatural" (diocesan statement, as translated by CNA). The decree:

• forbids priests to celebrate the sacraments or lead acts of popular piety connected "directly or indirectly" with the events, on the association's land or anywhere else;
• forbids priests to go to the site or to encourage anyone to believe there is "any ecclesial recognition";
• tells the faithful to "refrain from organizing and/or participating in" meetings that treat the events as certainly supernatural, or that pressure the bishop to change his decision;
• requires Gisella and Gianni Cardia to respect the bishop's decisions and to undertake "a path of purification and discernment";
• declares that the title "Madonna di Trevignano" "has no ecclesial value and cannot be used as if it had one, not even in the civil sphere".

27 and 28 June 2024: the Vatican confirms. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith formally recognised "the juridical validity" of the decree. Vatican News reported on 28 June 2024 that the Dicastery confirmed both the judgment of non-supernaturality ("constat de non supernaturalitate") and the disciplinary measures, including the ban on pilgrimages. It noted that the bishop's decision came before the new Vatican norms of May 2024, and stated its agreement with the result in light of them, without commenting on the bishop's reasoning.

The diocese did not excommunicate Cardia. When newspapers reported that it had, she denied it, and La Repubblica checked and agreed on 29 September 2024 that no excommunication was issued in March.

How does the Church judge an apparition now?

Since 17 May 2024 bishops have followed the Dicastery's Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena. As a rule, the Church no longer declares that an apparition is supernatural. The bishop, working with the Dicastery, reaches one of six prudential conclusions:

1. Nihil obstat. Many signs of the Holy Spirit are seen and nothing seriously critical has been found. The bishop may promote the devotion, even pilgrimages. This is what Medjugorje received in 2024 (see is Medjugorje approved?).
2. Prae oculis habeatur. Positive signs, with some confusion or risk that needs careful watching and perhaps doctrinal clarification.
3. Curatur. Significant problems, but the devotion has spread and bears real fruit, so the bishop does not ban it and does not encourage it.
4. Sub mandato. The phenomenon may be good but a person or group is misusing it, for example "for particular and undue financial gain". The bishop or the Holy See takes charge of it.
5. Prohibetur et obstruatur. The risks are very serious. The bishop declares publicly that adherence is not allowed.
6. Declaratio de non supernaturalitate. The bishop is authorised to declare the phenomenon not supernatural, on concrete, proven evidence, for instance if the visionary admits lying or credible witnesses show it was fabricated.

Trevignano received the strongest negative verdict available. The norms also list warning signs a bishop must weigh, and two of them fit the reported findings at Trevignano: "potential doctrinal errors", and "an overt pursuit of profit, power, fame, social recognition, or other personal interest closely linked to the event" (Norms, Article 15). The norms add that using alleged supernatural experiences "as a means of or a pretext for exerting control over people or carrying out abuses" is "of particular moral gravity" (Article 16).

Whose blood was on the weeping statue?

The criminal investigation began in 2023. The Guardian reported on 14 February 2025 that prosecutors in Civitavecchia opened their fraud inquiry after a private investigator claimed the blood on the statue came from a pig. The later forensic tests, below, found human blood.

Prosecutors then commissioned tests from Emiliano Giardina, a forensic geneticist. In February 2025, Corriere della Sera reported that the tests matched the bloodstains to Cardia's genetic profile (via The Guardian, 14 February 2025). The final report was filed in June 2025. Il Fatto Quotidiano, citing Corriere di Roma on 23 June 2025, quoted it: the analyses confirmed "the blood nature, of human origin, of the traces", and "the DNA of Maria Giuseppa Scarpulla was found". Her husband's DNA was not found. CT scans of the statue and of a picture of Christ found no mechanism for releasing liquid (our translation from the Italian).

Her side. Cardia's lawyer at the time, Solange Marchignoli, told Corriere in February 2025 that traces of Cardia's DNA were to be expected because she had "kissed and handled the statue", and asked: "Do you know the Madonna's DNA?" In September 2025 the defence said it would challenge the report at trial, arguing the DNA traces were not blood and did not prove fraud (RaiNews TGR Lazio, 2 September 2025). A court will weigh that evidence. Until it does, the forensic report is the prosecution's evidence, and the defence disputes it.

Where did the Trevignano donations go?

This is the heart of the criminal case, and every point below is an allegation from the prosecution that has not been tested in court.

• The vehicle. Donations went to the association Madonna di Trevignano ETS, which the couple ran, and on one occasion to Gianni Cardia himself, according to the prosecutor's summons quoted by ANSA on 11 November 2025. MessinaToday reported on 12 November 2025 that followers could join the association for a minimum contribution of 50 euros.
• The total. Prosecutors say followers gave more than 365,000 euros between 2018 and 2023 (Fanpage.it, 11 June 2026, citing the notice closing the investigation). The Guardian reported on 12 November 2025 that pilgrims believed their money would go towards a centre for sick children.
• The spending. The summons says the money paid for "the embellishment and enlargement of the place of worship": buying the field, a fence, a garage, a car costing almost 40,000 euros and another plot of farmland (ANSA, our translation).
• The method alleged. Prosecutors say the couple staged apparitions and "exudations" from a statuette and a picture of Christ, and foretold "future cataclysms and disasters, such as earthquakes", to generate "the fear of an imaginary danger" and so induce gifts. They allege the couple took advantage of people "suffering from physical illness and in conditions of psychological fragility" (ANSA, 11 November 2025; Fanpage.it, 11 June 2026; our translations).

The messages themselves carried that fear. The Guardian reported that Cardia claimed the statue warned of disasters the devil was preparing, including an earthquake that would destroy Rome and a communist takeover of the Church. On 3 June 2024 Tusciaweb reported a message dated 25 May announcing that "a new pandemic is coming".

Fear of a catastrophe, a date to come back to, and a cause that sounds holy. You will meet that pattern again. When a message about the end of the world comes with a bank account, step back.

Is Gisella Cardia on trial?

Yes. She and her husband have been sent to trial for aggravated fraud committed jointly ("truffa aggravata in concorso"), but the trial has not yet properly started. Here is the record as reported:

• 2023: prosecutors in Civitavecchia open a fraud investigation (CNA, 8 March 2024; The Guardian, 14 February 2025).
• June 2025: the geneticist's final report is filed (Il Fatto Quotidiano, 23 June 2025).
• 2 September 2025: prosecutors close the investigation. The defence says it will not seek a reduced charge, "We don't need discounts", and plans to call witnesses including senior churchmen and a Mariologist (RaiNews TGR Lazio, our translation).
• 11 November 2025: the couple are summoned to trial, with a first hearing set for 7 April 2026 before the court of Civitavecchia (ANSA).
• 7 April 2026: the preliminary hearing is postponed. A June date is cancelled, and the hearing is moved to 13 October 2026 (Fanpage.it, 11 June 2026; Tusciaweb, 17 June 2026).
• 13 October 2026: hours before the hearing, the couple dismiss their lawyer, Solange Marchignoli. A new lawyer, Giuseppe Marazzita, appears for them, and the court adjourns to 20 April 2027 (Fanpage.it, 13 October 2026).

A former donor has said he will join the case as a civil party seeking his money back (Tusciaweb, 14 October 2026). Under Article 27 of the Italian Constitution, a defendant "is not considered guilty until the final conviction". As of 29 October 2026, there is no verdict.

The prayer field. A separate dispute ended sooner. The town of Trevignano Romano ordered the association to remove its structures from the hillside, which is zoned for farming, within 90 days. When that did not happen, the town took the land into public ownership on 2 September 2024. Fanpage.it reported on 18 October 2024 that the regional administrative court of Lazio rejected the association's appeal, after the Council of State had also refused to suspend the order. The monthly gatherings on the hill ended.

Who is Gisella Cardia?

Gisella Cardia was born Maria Giuseppa Scarpulla and comes from Patti, in the province of Messina in Sicily. Before Trevignano she ran a ceramics business. MessinaToday reported on 12 November 2025 that in 2023 the court of Patti convicted her at first instance of fraudulent bankruptcy over the failure of that company, and gave her a suspended two-year sentence. The Guardian has also reported the bankruptcy fraud conviction.

From 2016 she presented herself as a recipient of messages from heaven, and with her husband Gianni she founded the association that ran the site at Trevignano Romano. El País reported in April 2024 that she was regarded by her followers as an "instrument of God".

After the Church's decree and the loss of the field, her following shrank. Tusciaweb reported on 17 June 2026 that her YouTube broadcasts now show a fixed camera instead of her face, and that messages attributed to her circulate on TikTok with images of Jesus and Mary generated by artificial intelligence and warnings such as "change yourselves, prepare for what must come" (our translation).

What does Gisella Cardia say?

She has consistently maintained that her experiences are real. Vatican News noted in June 2024 that "Ms. Cardia continues to maintain her claims and has challenged the diocesan investigation." Her public statements, as reported:

• On the bishop, April 2024: her supporters read a statement that she would stay away from the 3 April gathering "so as to demonstrate her effective communion with the Catholic Church", hoping "to open a dialogue" with Bishop Salvi (El País, 9 April 2024).
• On excommunication, June and September 2024: "I have never had an excommunication," she told followers on 3 June 2024 (Tusciaweb). In September she wrote that she "categorically" denied the reports and entrusted "to the mercy of God all the slanderers... so that they may be converted" (La Repubblica, 29 September 2024, our translations).
• On the trial, November 2025: through her lawyer, she said she felt "relief", seeing the trial as "an opportunity to reveal the truth of the events with transparency and to definitively put an end to all forms of speculation, misunderstanding and controversy" (ANSA via The Guardian, 12 November 2025).
• October 2026: the couple are "serene and confident in justice", Fanpage.it reported on 13 October 2026.

She is entitled to her defence, and this page does not prejudge the criminal case. The Church's judgment on the apparitions is a different matter, and that judgment is settled.

What are the red flags of a false apparition?

You can apply these tests to any seer, statue or message that reaches you online.

• The bishop says no, and the seer carries on. Look up the local diocese's website and the Dicastery's statements before you go. St Bernadette of Lourdes obeyed her parish priest and her bishop. Gatherings held in defiance of a decree fail the first test.
• Heaven keeps a calendar. A message promised on a fixed date every month draws crowds on schedule. Check whether the arrangement serves prayer or attendance.
• Fear with a bank account. Earthquakes, pandemics, war, "prepare for what must come", followed by a donation link or a membership fee. Article 15 of the Vatican norms names "profit" as a negative sign.
• The messages attack the Church. The Trevignano commission found messages critical of the Church and a source of division. Our Lady leads people to her Son and his Church.
• Miracles on camera. Weeping statues filmed for television and multiplying food shown to followers. The Church tests such signs carefully and slowly, as at Akita. A sign that only appears around one person, who controls the object, deserves the most caution.
• A cause you cannot check. Donors at Trevignano believed they were funding a centre for sick children, according to The Guardian. Ask for audited accounts and the charity's registration before you give.
• Doctrinal errors. Compare the messages with the Catechism. Theological mistakes were among the reasons the bishop gave.

How should a Catholic treat private revelations?

Calmly. The Catechism teaches that private revelations, even those the Church recognises, "do not belong to the deposit of faith", and that "it is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 67). No Catholic is required to believe any apparition. Everything we need for salvation has been given in Christ.

Scripture tells us to keep an open heart and a clear head together. "Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:19 to 21). "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1). Jesus warned that "false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect" (Matthew 24:24). Our page on false prophets sets out the biblical tests in full.

The Church does recognise apparitions that have stood the test, and they bear good fruit: conversion, confession, obedience and charity. You can read about them in our guide to approved Marian apparitions, and about another case the Church has not approved at Garabandal.

If you went to Trevignano, or gave money, carry no shame. You were looking for Our Lady, and she has not stopped looking for you. Go back to your parish. Talk to a priest, and go to confession if your conscience asks it. If you believe you were defrauded, speak to a lawyer or the Italian police; the court case is the place for that claim. And keep praying the Rosary. Mary's prayer was never confined to one hill.

Sources

• Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena", 17 May 2024 (vatican.va).
• Catholic News Agency via EWTN News, "Bishop rules on supposed apparitions of Virgin Mary in Italy", by Walter Sánchez Silva, 8 March 2024.
• Aleteia, "Church finds Trevignano apparitions near Rome are not supernatural", 7 March 2024.
• Vatican News, "Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith confirms ruling on alleged apparitions in Trevignano", 28 June 2024.
• OSV News (CNS), "New Vatican norms applied in alleged Italian apparitions", by Carol Glatz, 9 July 2024.
• El País, "Gisella Cardia, the psychic who challenged the Vatican", by Daniel Verdú, 9 April 2024.
• Tusciaweb, "Gisella Cardia al raduno del tre del mese: non sono stata scomunicata", 3 June 2024.
• La Repubblica (Rome), "Madonna di Trevignano, la veggente Gisella Cardia smentisce", by Carlo Romano, 29 September 2024.
• Fanpage.it, "Madonna di Trevignano, è definitivo: il campo delle preghiere non tornerà più a Gisella Cardia", 18 October 2024.
• The Guardian, "Italian 'mystic' may face trial after DNA match with blood on Virgin Mary statue", by Angela Giuffrida, 14 February 2025.
• Il Fatto Quotidiano, "Il DNA sulla statua della Madonna di Trevignano è solo di Gisella Cardia", 23 June 2025, citing Corriere di Roma.
• RaiNews TGR Lazio, "Madonna di Trevignano, Gisella Cardia e il marito verso il processo per truffa aggravata", 2 September 2025.
• ANSA, "Falsi miracoli, a processo la veggente di Trevignano", 11 November 2025.
• The Guardian, "Italian 'mystic' faces fraud trial over claim Virgin Mary statue wept blood", by Angela Giuffrida, 12 November 2025.
• MessinaToday, "Da Patti a Trevignano: la veggente Gisella Cardia a processo per truffa dopo la condanna per bancarotta", 12 November 2025.
• Fanpage.it, "Madonna di Trevignano, annullata l'udienza di Gisella Cardia", 11 June 2026.
• Tusciaweb, "Rinviato il processo a Gisella Cardia, mentre in rete la veggente fa flop", 17 June 2026.
• Fanpage.it, "La veggente di Trevignano revoca l'incarico alla legale", 13 October 2026.
• Tusciaweb, "Nuovo rinvio del processo per truffa alla veggente", 14 October 2026.

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