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    Claims about the Tilma and the Image

    CLAIM
    Scientists have discovered that Mary’s eyes possess the three effects of image refraction in a living eye.

    TRUTH
    This is true. Read More

    CLAIM
    Reflected in Mary’s eyes are 13 tiny figures, including Bishop Zumarraga and St. Juan Diego.

    TRUTH
    This is true. The 13 total figures form two scenes in both eyes. Read More

    CLAIM
    The image of Bishop Zumarraga in Mary’s eyes was digitally enlarged, revealing that in his eyes is the image of St. Juan Diego opening his tilma.

    TRUTH
    This is false. Read More

    CLAIM
    Guadalupe in the native language means “crush the head of the serpent.”

    TRUTH
    This is false. Guadalupe is a word of Arab origin. Read More

    CLAIM
    Spanish missionaries wanted to remove the name Guadalupe from the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

    TRUTH
    This is true. Read More

    CLAIM
    The Image portrays scenes from the book of Revelation.

    TRUTH
    This is true. Read More

    CLAIM
    The tilma maintains a constant temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

    TRUTH
    This claim has never been proven. Read More

    CLAIM
    The tilma on which the Image is imprinted is made of maguey fiber.

    TRUTH
    This is false. The tilma (an indigenous cape worn at the time of the apparition) is made of agave popotule fiber from the ixtle plant.
    Read More

    CLAIM
    The colors cannot be seen on the Image from a distance of 10 centimeters away.

    TRUTH
    This is false. Read More

    CLAIM
    A laser detected that the Image’s colors are not on the front or back of the tilma but rather float less than a millimeter above the cloth.

    TRUTH
    This is false. No such experiment has ever taken place. Read More

    CLAIM
    A bomb once exploded at the foot of the tilma but failed to harm it.

    TRUTH
    This is true. On the morning of Nov. 14, 1921, a bomb was detonated in the Basilica of Guadalupe. Read More

    CLAIM
    A doctor placed a stethoscope under the ribbon that Mary wears and heard a heartbeat.

    TRUTH
    This is false. There have been no such tests regarding a heartbeat in Mary’s abdomen. Read More

    CLAIM
    Studies have not succeeded in discovering the origin of the coloration of the Image.

    TRUTH
    This is true. The origin of the coloration and “the way the image appears on the fabric” has not been discovered. Read More

    CLAIM
    A replica of the Image was once painted on similar maguey fiber cloth, and it disintegrated after a few decades.

    TRUTH
    Basically, this is true, although with a few inaccuracies. Read More

    CLAIM
    In the 1700s, acid was accidentally spilled on the cloth and the damage was miraculously reconstructed within 30 days.

    TRUTH
    This is half true. In 1795, nitric acid was accidentally spilled on the left side of the Image. Read More

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