Vatican Insider is reporting from its confidential sources that a miracle has been confirmed. Theologians from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Giovanni Battista Montini, Pope Paul VI earlier this week. The “inexplicable” healing has been confirmed by the medical consultation headed by Professor Patrizio Polisca, who will have to be examined by the dicastery’s cardinals and bishops before receiving final approval from Pope Francis. If, as authoritative sources from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints tell Vatican Insider, these latest steps will be concluded quickly, and Montini could be beatified within the next few months.
The Postulator of the Cause, Fr. Antonio Marrazzo, had selected a special case from among many which early medical examinations described as “inexplicable”. On 20 December 2012, shortly before Benedict XVI’s historic resignation, he proclaimed the heroic virtue of Paul VI, concluding the canonical process. For Paul VI to be beatified, all that was needed was for one approved miracle.
The miracle which Marrazzo presented to the Congregation’s consultation involved the healing of an unborn child from California in the early 90’s. Doctors had found a serious defect in the fetus and high risk of brain damage which the surgery implied, they advised the mother to abort. The woman decided to have the child, entrusting the fate of the child to the intercession of Paul VI, the Pope who wrote Encyclical “Humanae vitae” in 1968. She did so despite being told that without a shadow of a doubt her child would be born with serious physical and mental handicaps.
But the child was born with no defects. Doctors waited to see whether problems would arise during the child’s adolescence before confirming that the child was completely healed. The Postulator of the Pope Paul VI’s cause said this was an extraordinary and supernatural event which took place through the intercession of the late Pope. It was in line with his Magisterium and the contents of the “Humanae Vitae” encyclical, i.e. the defense of life, “but also the defense of the family, because that document discusses married love, not just unborn life. This healing is apparently in line with the Pope's teaching.”
Image: Vatican Insider
