Anġelik Caruana, the man who claims to see the Virgin Mary at Borġ in-Nadur every Wednesday, issued a legal letter preventing a psychiatrist from revealing his conclusions about the legitimacy of the apparitions.
Psychiatrist Mark Xuereb was meant to unveil his conclusions during Friday’s edition of television programme Xarabank. But, when the much-publicised moment arrived, Dr Xuereb said he could not divulge his findings because of the legal letter.
In the letter, registered in the First Hall of the Civil Court on Wednesday, Mr Caruana and his wife, Catherine, called on Dr Xuereb not to divulge information about Mr Caruana without his consent in line with professional ethics.
The couple reserved the right to take further legal action against Dr Xuereb.
Dr Xuereb had been appointed to follow Mr Caruana by his spiritual director Fr Hayden Williams, a Capuchin friar. Dr Xuereb has often been quoted as saying he would make his findings known if he felt they were in the public interest.
Before Friday’s programme, he said, he handed a copy of the report to the Curia and informed the Caruana family about his conclusions. Shortly after, he received the legal letter. The Curia is carrying out an independent investigation into the matter, which is expected to be concluded in a matter of months.
Speaking on Xarabank, Dr Xuereb said he had followed the case between 2006 and 2012 when Mr Caruana “stopped cooperating”.
When contacted, the Caruana family said they issued the letter because they felt that, in order for the whole truth to emerge, there had to be a holistic study that was not simply carried out at psychiatric level.
They added that they still did not have a full copy of the report and that Dr Xuereb had not issued the report in the five years during which he was actively following the case.
Mr Caruana first made headlines in 2006 when he claimed that a statue of the Virgin, bought by his wife, started weeping tears of blood and oozing oil.
In 2009, forensic investigators, commissioned by the Archbishop, said DNA tests proved the blood was Mr Caruana’s and the oil was everyday kitchen oil.