These are tough times for the Vatican. Not only is the current pope under fire for allegedly helping cover up child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, but questions have recently been raised about a miracle attributed to the previous pope, John Paul II.
Though John Paul was one of the most beloved leaders in recent times, in order for him to be eligible for sainthood there must be documented proof that he committed miracles.
Theoretically any miracle might do, from raising the dead to desalinating the Red Sea, but in practice the most common miracles are medical ones such as spontaneous cures and healings. These are also among the most difficult to verify, since diseases can be unpredictable and many get better (or go into remission) on their own. If anyone—whether pope or plumber—visits enough sick people, some of them will get better with or without divine intervention.
How can we be sure that a miracle truly occurred? The Vatican’s guidelines say that a medical cure must be unexplainable, instantaneous, complete, and lasting. (These criteria seem fair; after all, a cancer that immediately disappears but returns within a few hours wouldn’t be much of a miracle.)
But this is where things get complicated for those who support Pope John Paul’s bid for sainthood. A French nun named Simon-Pierre prayed to him for relief of her Parkinson’s disease, and two months after John Paul died she woke up completely and inexplicably cured.
As an Associated Press story noted, “While the nun's cure was by all indications instantaneous and complete, some would argue the world will have to wait her entire lifetime to determine whether it was lasting, in case the symptoms return. New questions were raised in recent weeks, after a Polish newspaper reported that doubts had been cast about whether Simon-Pierre had Parkinson's to begin with. The Rzeczpospolita daily, one of Poland's most respected and widely read newspapers, suggested that Simon-Pierre instead may have suffered from another neurological disease which has similar symptoms as Parkinson's but which can be cured.”
Thus it’s possible that the disease John Paul miraculously cured was never really incurable in the first place. If the nun was originally misdiagnosed, then her later recovery would not be any more remarkable than recovering from the flu or another relatively short-term illness. Even if Simon-Pierre’s miraculous cure is eventually discredited, there may be other alleged medical miracles attributed to John Paul that will eventually guide him to sainthood.
Tags: Cancer, Current Events, Disabled People, Emotions, Health
comments ( )