Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jul 3, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- After three years of study of the devotion to “Our Lady of the Hill,” the Archdiocese of Salta has announced it has no proof or objective witnesses to support a supernatural explanation of the alleged Marian apparitions.

The archdiocese issued a statement about the alleged revelations of the Virgin Mary to Maria Livia de Obeid, who has the practice of laying her hands on each person that comes to visit her, invoking the protection of God.  She has promoted the construction of a chapel on top of the hill in Salta where the apparitions supposedly took place.

In a statement entitled, “Declaration regarding the question of the Hill,” Archbishop Mario Cargnello said Obeid’s activities represented “a personal initiative in the context of a civil organization, without the recognition of, or the insertion into, the organic and official activity of the Church.”

Archbishop Cargnello said the archdiocese, “cannot endorse the extraordinary events as objectively true,” and he invited the faithful to seek their spiritual growth through the ministries offered by the Church in Salta.   Obeid’s invitation to come to the hill, and the messages that are given there, are, “outside the [Church’s] pastoral direction,” he went on, “and consequently, the Church cannot endorse nor promote participation in them.”

The Archdiocese of Salta has been investigating the alleged apparitions since 2003, when a commission of priests began studying the testimonies of those involved and those who have gone to the site.

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