Woman leaves $40,000 at Md. shrine for safekeeping

A woman quietly left $40,000 worth of rare U.S. coins near a Catholic shrine for safekeeping so the Virgin Mary could watch over her life savings while she was out of town, and apparently it worked: The money was returned to her when she got back a week later.

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Neb. man stole Virgin Mary painting for abortion

A Nebraska man who stole a painting of the Virgin Mary to finance an abortion for a teen he raped has been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and felony theft.

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Irish Catholics say tree stump looks like Mary

Thousands of Irish Catholics have flocked this week to a County Limerick church to pray at the stump of a recently cut willow that many observers say, has the silhouette of the Virgin Mary.

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Mass. hospital deciding fate of Virgin Mary window

A Massachusetts hospital is trying to figure out what to do with a window in which some Catholics claim to see an image of the Virgin Mary.

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Thieves pry bronze Virgin Mary statue from church

Thieves may have to take an awkward trip to the confessional. A bronze statue of the Virgin Mary was lifted from a Catholic church in Newport Beach. Police Lt. Craig Fox said the 4-to-5 foot statue was pried from its base on the front of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church on Friday night.

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Mexican town stands up for illegal immigrants

The Sunday afternoon calm was broken by shouts from the small, mission-style house, watched over by a statue of the Virgin Mary.

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Religion news in brief

Calls for unity and religious moderation from Muslim and Christian leaders marked the opening of Lebanon's biggest mosque in the heart of the capital.

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Faithful see Virgin Mary image in hospital window

Hundreds of people are being drawn to a Catholic hospital in Springfield by what they say looks like an image of the Virgin Mary in a window. Sister Kathleen Sullivan, senior vice president at Mercy Medical Center, said the image in a vacant, second-story office was first noticed Tuesday morning.

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Church recognizes Virgin Mary appearances in France

A Roman Catholic bishop said Sunday that the church has officially recognized that the Virgin Mary appeared to a 17th-century shepherd girl in the French Alps.

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Sister Lucia Put on Sainthood Fast Track

Pope Benedict XVI has put Sister Lucia, the last of three shepherd children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary during apparitions in 1917 in Fatima, on a fast-track to possible sainthood, the Vatican said Wednesday.

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Chocolatiers See Image of Virgin Mary

As a chocolatier to the rich and famous, Martucci Angiano has posed with many celebrities.

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When I gaze upon the Black Madonna, whether in her form as Our Lady of Guadeloupe in the Americas or her European forms, I behold the countenance of mystery, things hidden, deep wisdom and dynamic power – I behold a magical presence that answers prayers and invocations, extends …

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Clergy in Ireland are "alarmed" over the level of support for alleged Marian sightings claimed by a self-proclaimed Dublin visionary, the Belfast Telegraph reported. A local clairvoyant claims the Virgin Mary appeared for a second time in three weeks at Knock Shrine on Saturday.

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Visitors to a remote grotto near Dungloe in Co Donegal, Ireland have claimed that a statue of the Virgin Mary wept and that they saw crosses appear in the night sky.

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Omaha - A Nebraska man who stole a painting of the Virgin Mary to finance an abortion for a teenage girl he had raped has been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and theft.

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A Nebraska man who stole a painting of the Virgin Mary to finance an abortion for a teen he was accused of raping has been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and felony theft.

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Well, this should pose a problem for devout Catholics everywhere…

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Religious fever has taken root in the Irish village of Rathkeale, Co Limerick, after workmen claimed the image of the Virgin Mary appeared in the remains of a felled churchyard tree.

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Catholics in Poland have formed a protest committee in a bid to stop a concert in Warsaw by the US singer Madonna on the day that the Catholic Church worldwide celebrates the assumption into heaven of Mary, the mother of Jesus - writes Jonathan Luxmoore.

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At least 50 people in Kottayam district have reportedly lost their vision after gazing at the sun looking for an image of Virgin Mary.

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The hottest thing on the griddle at the Las Palmas restaurant these days isn't the food — it's the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that a cook says she saw on the griddle.

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A mark resembling an outline of the Virgin Mary appears on a griddle at the Las Palmas restaurant in Calexico, Calif. Manager Brenda Martinez said Thursday that more than 100 people had come to see the likeness, which first apppeared when the griddle was being cleaned April 22.

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---Grilled cheese sandwich, ---Water-stained piece of plaster from a Pittsburgh man's bathroom, ---Virgin Mary created from condensed water between two windowpanes, ---Crucified Jesus Christ was seen in the clouds, ---Bonfire which locals believed resembled the silhouette of late …

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The Roman Catholic Church condemned Ricardo Oyarzun's plans for a show featuring the models, and a conservative group tried unsuccessfully to block it in court. Oyarzun said he had received telephone threats and had excrement smeared on his doorstep.

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Some Catholics in Chile, like Muslims in most places, do not tolerate if fun is poked at their religious figures.

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The House of the Virgin (Meryemana in Turkish), located in a nature park between Ephesus and Seljuk, is believed to be the last residence of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. The peaceful site is sacred to both Christians and Muslims, and is visited by many tourists and pilgrims.

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A Peruvian woman called Virgen Maria, who is married to a carpenter, has named her son Jesus Emanuel after giving birth on Christmas Day.

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Virgin Mary, a 20-year-old Peruvian woman, gave birth to a baby boy on Christmas Day and named him Jesus, Peru's state news agency said. The baby's father, Adolfo Jorge Huamani, 24, is a carpenter. Religious Peruvians compared him to Joseph the carpenter in the Bible.

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On Dec 25, the round-faced Mr Sawaguchi will get up in the icy predawn of northern Japan, put on his uniform of suit and tie and head off for another day as a civil servant in the construction division of Aomori Prefectural Government.

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PLAYBOY has got into the Christmas spirit – by putting the Virgin Mary NUDE on its cover. The controversial mag's latest festive offering is sure to kick up a storm in Mexico where it was released yesterday.

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Playboy trying to de-virginize the Virgin Mary?

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Department store chain Nordstrom removed a shirt from its shelves that shows a skeleton holding a small child.

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A likeness of the Virgin Mary spotted in the trunk of a suburban tree is being touted as a divine "blessing".

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A Monterey man said he can see the image of the Virgin Mary in his leg after a motorcycle accident. Marc Lipton said he was riding his motorcycle on Cannery Row when he lost control and slid about 50 feet along the road.

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About 50 people blinded themselves by looking at the sun after reports of a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary in the sky.

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Sydney - An Australian Roman Catholic who considers himself the rightful pope and claims to communicate with the Virgin Mary once a month was jailed on Friday for having sex with an underage girl in the cult community he led.

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