When Pope John Paul II passed away in 2005, the Italian People who gathered in St. Peter’s Square loved him so much, they shouted Santo Subito! (Sainthood Immediately!) Pope Benedict XVI waived the normal waiting period and allowed the process to move forward.
One miracle was attributed to John Paul The Great, and he became Blessed. Now, a second miracle has been found:
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed that the miracle that brought John Paul to the ranks of saints concerned a Costa Rican woman, Floribeth Mora, who on Friday broke months of silence to tell her story in public, surrounded by her family, doctors and church officials at a news conference in the archbishop’s residence in San Jose, Costa Rica.
A tearful Mora described how she awoke at her home in Dulce Nombre de Tres Rios, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the capital, on April 8, 2011 with a debilitating headache that sent her to the hospital. She was diagnosed with having suffered a cerebral aneurism in the right side of her brain.
Doctors decided they couldn’t operate because the area was inaccessible.
“With an open operation or an endovascular intervention, the risk to Floribeth would have been to die or be left with a significant neurological deficit,” her doctor, Dr. Alejandro Vargas, told reporters.
She was sent home with painkillers.
“I returned home with the fear that I was going to die,” Mora said.
Nevertheless, a few days later, she insisted on participating in a religious procession during which she said she received a sign that she would be healed. The family decided to build a shrine to John Paul outside their home: a colorful altar with a photo of the late pope next to a statue of the Madonna and surrounded by flowers, candles and Christmas lights.
On the day John Paul was beatified, May 1, 2011, Mora said she insisted on watching the Mass, which drew some 1.5 million people to St. Peter’s Square and the streets around it.
“I contemplated the photo of the Holy Father with his arms extended and I fixed my eyes on him,” she said. “In this moment, I heard a voice tell me ‘get up, don’t be afraid,’ and I could only say ‘Yes, I’m going to get up.'”
She said her family was shocked to see her get out of bed. “I was afraid to tell my husband, because he was going to think I was crazy or on drugs. But I got up from bed, and I am here before you, healthy,” she said.
Medical tests confirmed that the aneurysm had disappeared, Vargas said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like it,” he said, showing the before and after images of the hemorrhage.
In addition, Pope Francis I is also waiving the Sainthood guidelines for Pope John XXIII, bypassing the second miracle requirement altogether; he was beatified (made Blessed) in 2000. The actual date of their canonization will most likely be in December. This is a decision which will be hailed by millions of Roman Catholics who loved John Paul The Great, as well as criticized by its detractors.
Though I am not Roman Catholic, I admired the man, not only because of his Faith, but also because he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher against the Soviet Union and Communism. I wish I could have met him in this life.
