Hobbs Virgin Mary statue “weeps” for first time in months

The Hobbs Virgin Mary statue making national headlines appeared to cry again on Saturday, for the first time in months, a church member confirmed.

“It’s definitely a miracle,” said Judy Ronquillo, who manages Our Lady of Guadalupe, by phone. “It’s for real. This is real. I didn’t think she was going to do it again, but now I know she is going to do it again.”

ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom made the nine-hour-round-trip journey to visit the church in late May. This is the fourth time the statue has appeared to weep, Ronquillo said.

“We’re going to stay open as long as we have her,” Ronquillo said. “We’ll have her forever.”

Bishop Oscar Cantú of the Las Cruces Diocese opened up an investigation into the statue this summer.

In a letter from August, he said the statue is made of bronze and there were only cobwebs on the inside. According to the Diocese, the foundry that created that statue said they use a wax mold, but the temperatures are so high, the wax melts away.

“If the cause of the phenomenon is supernatural, we must discern if it is from God or from the devil,” he said. “I remind you that the Church believes in the existence of fallen angels, who at times try to trick us. We renounce the devil, however.”

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Diocese said there won’t be a declaration of a miracle for several years. Ronquillo told ABC-7 the church has had tens of thousands of visitors from as far away as Asia.

“You don’t have to be Catholic to believe,” Ronquillo said. “Just by coming by to see her, and being in front of her, you feel something.”