Does the Blessed Virgin Mary send text messages?

The task of a headline writer is to craft a partial sentence to grab the attention of a potential reader scanning through the various headlines scattered across the page, whether virtual or actual. These days headlines try too hard (particularly with headlines such as "...you won't believe what happened next") and often convince me to simply keep scanning.

Every now and again, though, a headline or two does capture my attention, like this one: Bishops say Marian emails and texts circulated in Ivory Coast may disturb public order. Alright, when did the Blessed Virgin Mary start sending text messages? That's a headline that leads to a story I'll read.

As should probably be expected, the Bishops of the Ivory Coast are cautioning the faithful about the claims of some who say the Mother of God is sending them messages through the new media:

In a letter sent earlier this month, the bishops said the authenticity of the messages “has neither been proven nor approved by the Church.” In fact, they said, most of the messages are “contrary to the teachings of the Church.”

“People, claiming to be from the Catholic Church, have given themselves the mission to disseminate messages that, according to their authors, are from the Virgin Mary,” said the bishops.

After reviewing their content, the letter said, “the conclusion is that the content of most of these messages is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ … for some messages may even disturb public order and create psychosis and fear among the people.”

It might be said that the Blessed Virgin prefers to give her messages in person, which is why she makes use of apparitions.