Miracles of the Gods: A New Look at the Supernatural (98 page)

were blinded and could only follow the phenomenon with their eyes screwed up. The vision showed itself at the same place in the same way on other evenings.

The Coptic Patriarch Kyrillos VI at once convened a commission of priests, scholars and lay members of the Coptic community. This commission, along with thousands of Cairo citizens - Copts, Moslems, Hindus, Christians of all shades, members of sects - declared that they had seen a 'beautiful lady'

radiating light above the domes of the church. That was six years ago. On the evening of 12th April the Egyptian photographer Wagih Rizk Malta, on the hunt for a sensation, took the first snapshot of a vision of Mary in the sky. On 14th April the Patriarch produced the photograph at a press conference.

It showed a dazzlingly white shape with an unidentifiable figure against the background of the three domes near the lower edge of the picture above the church roof. Numerous witnesses confirmed having seen a 'beautiful female figure', by signing a document to that effect. [22]

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I had been to Lourdes and Fatima. On my journeys across the continents, there was not a single place of pilgrimage in which I had not observed the environment and history of the 'miracle' with critical attention. But I had never had the privilege of being the neutral spectator of a 'sudden' vision or of talking to an active male or female visionary. Then reports of the works of 'Mama Rosa' began to arrive regularly on my desk. 'Mama Rosa' is considered to be a visionary. Was this a chance to fill in a gap in my knowledge?