Pope Francis witnessed a Eucharistic miracle confirmed by doctors

Archbishop Bergoglio organized a scientific study, but decided to handle the events with caution.

The cardiologist and researcher Franco Serafini, author of the book: A cardiologist visits Jesus (A cardiologist visits Jesus, ESD, 2018, Bologna), has studied the case of eucharistic miracles reported in the Argentine capital, which occurred in several years (1992, 1994, 1996 ) and who had as his prudent custodian the then auxiliary bishop of the Argentine capital, the Jesuit who would become Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, later Pope Francis.

The future pope asked for a scientific evaluation before the Church could issue a statement on the veracity of the signs indicating Eucharistic miracles in Buenos Aires.





"Eucharistic miracles are a strange type of miracle: they are certainly of help to the faithful of all times, inevitably tested by the difficult understanding of the overwhelming truth that the Son of God is present in a particle of bread and his blood in wine. , "Dr. Serafini told us during the launch of a documentary on the subject produced by the Vatican on 30 October 2018.

The protocol for the management of fragments of consecrated guests

In relation to the events in Buenos Aires, the expert recalls as a premise the protocol that a priest should follow when dealing with a consecrated fragment that accidentally or by desecration falls to the ground or becomes dirty and cannot be consumed.

John XXIII in 1962 approved in the revision of the Roman Missal that the guest was placed in a chalice filled with water, so that the species could "dissolve and that the water was poured into the shrine" (a sort of sink with a drain leading straight into the earth, not into any other plumbing or drainage).

The list of norms (De Defectibus) is ancient and also regulates very unusual scenarios, such as the death of the celebrant during the celebration of Mass. The Apostolic See also describes the way in which the fragments of armies are managed: they continue to be consecrated and must be safeguarded.

In other words, water dissolves the unleavened bread species from the host; if the material properties of the unleavened bread are missing, then the Substance of the Body of Christ also becomes absent, and only then can the water be thrown away.

Before the 1962 missal, the fragments were kept in the Tabernacle until they decayed and were brought to the sacrarium.

This is the context in which prodigious Eucharistic events took place between 1992 and 1996 in the same parish of Buenos Aires: St. Mary's, at 286 La Plata Avenue.

The miracle of 1992

After the mass of May 1, 1992, in the evening, Carlos Dominguez, secular and extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, went to reserve the Blessed Sacrament and found two pieces of host on the corporal (the linen cloth placed under the ships that held the Eucharist ) in the Tabernacle, in the shape of a half moon.

The parish priest, p. Juan Salvador Charlemagne, thought they were not fresh fragments, and applied the above mentioned procedure, arranging to put the guest's pieces into the water.

On May 8, Father Juan checked the container and saw that three blood clots had formed in the water, and on the walls of the tabernacle there were traces of blood, which seemed almost the product of an explosion of the host himself, Serafini describes.

Bergoglio was not yet on the scene; he returned to Buenos Aires in 1992 from his period of several years in Cordova, called by Cardinal Antonio Quarracino. The auxiliary bishop at the time, Eduardo Mirás, asked for expert advice to determine if what was found was really human blood.

For the parish priests, it was a tumultuous period, but they did not speak publicly of the fact because they were waiting for the official response of the ecclesiastical authority.

Eduardo Perez Del Lago described the appearance of blood almost as the color of the flesh of the liver, but of an intense red color, without any bad smell due to decomposition.

When the water finally evaporated, a red crust remained a couple of centimeters thick.

Miracle of 1994

Two years later, on Sunday 24 July 1994, during the morning Mass for children, when the extraordinary lay minister of Holy Communion discovered the ciborium, he saw a drop of blood flowing inside the ciborium.

Serafini believes that although the episode did not have much relevance in the narration of the other unexplained events in that same place, it must have been an "indelible memory" to see those new, living drops.

Miracle of 1996

Sunday 18 August 1996, at the evening Mass (19:00 local time), at the end of the distribution of Communion, a member of the faithful approached the priest, Fr. Alejandro Pezet. He had noticed a host hidden at the base of a candlestick facing the Crucifix.

The priest collected the guest with the necessary care; someone had probably left it there with the intention of returning later for a profane purpose, Serafini explains. The priest asked Emma Fernandez, 77, another extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, to put him in the water and close it in the tabernacle.

A few days later, on August 26, Fernandez opened the tabernacle: it was the only one besides Fr. Pezet had the keys and was surprised: in the glass container, he saw that the guest had turned into something red, similar to a piece of meat.

Here, one of the four auxiliary bishops of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, entered the scene and asked to collect evidence and photograph everything. The conduct of the events was duly documented and communicated also to the Holy See.

Preliminary scientific tests

Medical tests involving an oncologist and a hematologist were performed. Dr Botto, examining the substance under a microscope, saw the muscle cells and living fibrous tissue. Dr Sasot reported that the 1992 specimen showed macroscopic evolution of the material that took the form of a clot. He concluded that the sample is human blood.

However, the research has not yet produced better results using adequate means and resources.

Ricardo Castañón Gómez, an unbeliever, was called in 1999 by the now archbishop of Buenos Aires, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio (appointed to the office in February 1998) to investigate these trials. On September 28, Archbishop Bergoglio approved the proposed research protocol.

Castañon Gómez is a clinical psychologist, expert in biochemistry and neurophysiophysiology, who studied university in Germany, France, the United States and Italy.

The expert hired by Beroglio took the samples on October 5, 1999, in front of witnesses and cameras. The search was not completed until 2006.

The samples were sent by the Treasurer to Forensic Analytical in San Francisco, California. The 1992 specimen was being studied for DNA; in the 1996 sample, the hypothesis was made that it would reveal DNA of non-human origin.

Surprising conclusions from science

Serafini provides an exhaustive description of the team of scientists who studied the samples: from Dr. Robert Lawrence of Delta Pathology Associates in Stockton, California, and from Dr. Peter Ellis of Syney University in Australia, to the now elderly student of miracles of Professor Linoli Arezzo launched in Italy.

Subsequently, the opinion of a prestigious and definitive team was requested. The team was led by Dr. Frederick Zugibe, a GP and cardiologist in Rockland County, New York.

Dr. Zugibe studied the samples without knowing the origin of the material; Australian scientists did not want to influence his expert opinion. Dr. Zugibe has been performing autopsies for over 30 years, an expert in heart analysis, in particular.

"This specimen was alive at the time of collection," said Zugibe. It's amazing that it would have been kept for so long, Serafini explains.

Therefore, in his final opinion of March 2005, Dr. Zugibe specified that the substance consisted of human blood, which contained intact white blood cells and "live" heart muscle, coming from the left ventricular myocardium.

Live and injured heart tissue

He said tissue changes are compatible with a recent myocardial infarction, from obstruction of a coronary artery followed by thrombosis or severe trauma to the chest in the region above the heart. So, the heart tissue lived and hurt.

On March 17, 2006, Dr. Castañon officially presented the evidence to Jorge Mario Bergoglio, already nominated cardinal (2001) and (since 1998) archbishop of Buenos Aires.