Vatican Approves Second Miracle Needed for Canonisation of Pope Paul VI
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints on Tuesday approved the second miracle needed for the canonisation of Blessed Pope Paul VI. The canonisation ceremony is likely to take place later this year.
Below is the dead body of Pope Paul, ready to be made a saint by the Papacy. A dead body to become a saint? Yes.
Pope Paul VI’s Legacy
Pope Paul VI succeeded Pope John XXIII in 1963 and served until 1978, when he was succeeded by Pope John Paul II. He concluded the proceedings of the Second Vatican Council, began the practice of papal travel outside Italy, and successfully improved ecumenical relations with Protestant and Orthodox churches.
However, July 25th will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the most controversial decisions of his papacy: the publication of the encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life). It reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s teaching banning all artificial means of contraception, including the pill and the condom, contrary to widespread expectations that he might act otherwise.
The Miracles Leading to Canonisation
The second miracle attributed to Pope Paul VI involved the healing of an unborn child in the fifth month of pregnancy. According to the Catholic News Agency, the mother, from Verona, Italy, had an illness that threatened both her life and the life of her unborn child. She was advised to have an abortion.
A few days after the beatification of Paul VI by Pope Francis in October 2014, the mother prayed to the now Blessed Paul VI at a shrine in Lombardy. The baby girl was later born healthy.
The first miracle involving Pope Paul VI took place in California in the 1990s. It also involved an unborn child with a serious health problem that could have caused brain damage. Doctors advised an abortion, but the mother entrusted her pregnancy to Paul VI, and the child was born healthy.
On the basis of that first miracle, Pope Francis beatified Blessed Paul VI in October 2014, at the conclusion of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family.
