Miracle Aborted

Bad news on the effort to make Pope John Paul II a saint. Seems that the lady he cured isn’t really cured, and might not have had the condition The Vatican thought she had:

“Now, a Polish newspaper, Rzeczpospolita, reports Simon-Pierre's symptoms have returned. The newspaper also said her doctor, on his Web site, suggested she did not suffer from Parkinson's but from a disease with the same symptoms that is known to go into remission.”

This is a serious blow to the late Pontiff because you need a miracle or martyrdom for the Sainthood to be approved. I will not be surprised, however, if another miraculous remission miracle is found to keep John Paul II on track for sainthood. Given this display of ineptitude in Papal investigations, maybe it’s not a surprise all that sexual abuse went on under their noses?

Here’s the question that comes into my head at a time like this: Why do all the modern miracles suck so bad? They are always cures of some hard to diagnose condition. No one ever regrows a limb, or gets their club-foot straightened out anymore. Heck, in the past we have reports of Catholic Saints flying! Speaking as an atheist here, but if the Pope flew across St. Peter’s square I’d have to at least reexamine my beliefs for sure. Why doesn’t God do this anymore?

The answer is obvious of course. As the ability of science to explain how disease works (including diseases that go into remission) coupled with our technology that allows fantastic claims to be investigated more easily has made the modern miracle more difficult. God has to work in even more “mysterious ways.” The miracles have to become more subtle because we don’t have to rely on word of mouth from illiterate villagers that Saint Whats-his-face flew across the town.

Don’t worry John Paul, I’m sure the same crack squad of investigators that found out about priest sexual abuse will whip you up a new miracle so that you can get your rightful place among the saints.