Angelik Caruana is a resident of Birżebbuġa in Malta who has reported a series of visions of the Virgin Mary since 21 April 2006, including a number of times at a hill in Borġ in-Nadur where he delivered monthly messages to the public.
Caruana originally made headlines in 2006 when he claimed that a statue of the Virgin Mary in his home was weeping blood and oozing oil. The blood was later identified as Angelik's own and the oil as burnt cooking oil. The Borġ in-Nadur site sometimes received more than 200 visitors, and Caruana has a number of followers who circulate his messages through newsletters and the internet.
In January 2016, the Catholic Church decreed that Caruana's messages were not divine in nature, and should not be promoted. The curia were particularly concerned over Caruana's "monetary gain" from the reported apparations, and two cases where Caruana had told cancer patients that their illness has been cured, only for them to die weeks later.
History
In January and April 2006, Caruana reported that a statue of the Virgin Mary in his house in Birżebbuġa was issuing tears of blood. Mrs. Caruana had felt so drawn towards the statue while it was on display in a Birzebbuga pet shop, that she immediately purchased it and placed it in a prominent place in her residence. Three days later, on the 23rd January, tears of a red liquid oozed from the statue. In April that year he reported his first vision of the Virgin Mary in a local church, in which she referred to herself as the "Immaculate Conception and the Queen of Peace and the Family" and asked for the urgent conversion of Maltese families, and prayer for the conversion of the people of Iran, Russia, America, China and Australia.
Apparitions began to occur more regularly, although without any pattern, and in June 2006, Caruana reported apparitions on the 19, 23 and 30. Father Hayden Williams was notified of the events and became Caruana's spiritual director under his own initiative, without the support of the church, accompanying him on many occasions during his apparitions.
Starting in December 2006, Caruana was reporting weekly apparitions on a hill at Borġ in-Nadur, which he described as "the special place Mother Mary has chosen for the apparitions". These apparitions included conversations with the Virgin Mary, visions of souls in Purgatory, vision of the Archangel Uriel, Satanic attacks, mystic visions of Jesus on the Cross, the apparition of the Eucharist on Caruana's hands and his subsequent Holy Communion, and visions of other supernatural phenomena.
During a vision on February 28, 2007, on Borg in-Nadur Hill, Angelik Caruana is reported to have said the Madonna told him she is appearing in Malta because she wants people to accept her son again.
The public messages Caruana gives on Borġ in-Nadur Hill are now recorded live by the priests accompanying him, and are read out to an audience. All the messages are also posted to an official website. Lengthy messages start out with "My dear children" where Caruana greets the listeners as the Virgin Mary's children. Caruana's messages have directed the pilgrims present to meditate on the rosary daily as the means to acquire peace, and have said that Mass is more of a necessity than visiting the site of Borġ in-Nadur, although Caruana has said that he believed the Virgin Mary wanted the people to visit the site and pray as "it is a special place that she herself has chosen".
In 2010, Caruana was directed by the Virgin Mary to travel to Gozo, Malta's sister island where he described further apparitions from her at a site in Xewkija. In 2011, Caruana travelled to the Vatican, where it was reported he climbed over a security barrier to interrupt a general audience with Pope Benedict XVI, in order to personally deliver a letter containing "devotional messages". Caruana was escorted from the venue by Vatican security.
Other visions
Archangel Uriel is a guardian angel who Caruana describes as being visible only to him. Caruana has spoken of how the angel can transport his soul to different places. On a particular occasion, Caruana described how his soul was transported over five hundred miles to Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uriel reportedly ministers the Eucharist to Caruana. Several witnesses have reported the Eucharist appearing out of nowhere, with Caruana receiving it in his hands and subsequent Holy Communion.