Girgenti mystic’s faithful fined €2,329 for planning irregularities

The followers of religious mystic Guza Mifsud have been fined €2,329 for planning irregularities on a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Girgenti, limits of Siggiewi.

A spokesperson for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, which fined the 'Moviment Madonna tal-Konsagrazzjoni' for having erected their shrine without a planning permit, said this was the maximum fine currently applicable in such cases.

But the fine was imposed in spite of MEPA's decision in February to sanction the shrine, which was incrementally developed without any planning permits in the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2010, the lotteries-funded Good Causes Fund granted €1,500 to the followers of religious mystic Guza Mifsud, to upgrade their meeting place which still lacked any planning permits.

In making their case for their planning application, the movement argued that their shrine, although located in a Natura 2000 site, "could not be relocated elsewhere" because "the use of the site was related to a religious apparition".

Mifsud is believed to have received an apparition from the Virgin Mary while working the fields in the Girgenti Valley.

The newly-approved development retains the existing 100 benches and adds a podium and an altar, a store with underlying basement, as well as boundary walls and a timber canopy above the altar. Prior to 1992, the site was characterised by two open fields.

While noting that the development was in breach of MEPA policies, the Planning Directorate noted that the proposed sanctioning is not for commercial use but rather for "socio-religious purposes".

The case officer's report also refers to communication with the Archdiocese of Malta, stating that the local ecclesiastical authorities found no objection to the holding of prayer meetings and such other religious activities by the 'Moviment Madonna tal-Konsagrazzjoni' on the site in question.

The shrine attracts pilgrims who come to pray to the statue of the Virgin Mary, erected by Guza Mifsud herself in 1986. Prayer meetings are held on the site twice a month.

When Mifsud had been asked whether she had a permit from the civil and ecclesiastical authorities to erect this statue, she famously replied she had the permission of the Virgin Mary. Now she has MEPA's permission too.