Thirteenth question
Thirteen miracles you can still go and see
The phrase “a miracle recognized by the Church” gets attached to things very easily online. But approved by the Holy See, recognized by the local bishop, permitted as an object of devotion, and never judged by anyone at all are four different statements. Here are thirteen places you can still visit, set out side by side: what is said to have happened, what exactly the Church recognized, where the skeptics press hardest, and what has still not been settled.
Three things to clear away first. One, the story that “the World Health Organization studied Lanciano for fifteen months and published a report in 1976” is not true. No such record exists. Two, the exhibition of Eucharistic miracles assembled by St. Carlo Acutis is an excellent pilgrimage guide, not a list of approvals. Three, most of the widely known “incorrupt saints” have faces of wax or silicone. The Church has said so itself.
Five things to check before planning a pilgrimage
- Who recognized it? Check first whether it was the Holy See, the local bishop, or nobody. The blood at Naples and the Shroud of Turin have never been judged by the Church.
- What was recognized? “Permission for public veneration” and “a determination of supernatural origin” are different statements. Under the 2024 norms the Church as a rule does not declare the latter.
- Can you see it now? The Shroud of Turin is normally sealed and only a replica is on view. The hosts at Siena are exposed on the 17th of each month and on Corpus Christi. Naples is three times a year.
- Is the photograph the real thing? The face in the glass case is usually wax or silicone.
- Is the material current? The recognized cures at Lourdes number 72, not 70, and research on the Shroud of Turin changes direction every few years.
Official documents and sources
Where to look if you want to check the level of a judgment yourself. Not shrine publicity, but the Church's own documents.
- Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, norms for discerning alleged supernatural phenomena (2024)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 66–67 — public and private revelation
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 547–550 — the miracles of Jesus as signs of the Kingdom
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1356–1372 — the memorial and sacrifice of the Eucharist
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1500–1505 — the human person facing illness and suffering
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, norms for diocesan inquiries conducted by bishops
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, regulations for the medical board (2016)
- Holy See Press Office — decree on the miracle through the intercession of Carlo Acutis
- Lourdes official material — list of recognized miraculous healings
- Lourdes official material — the role of the medical bureau
The research these answers draw on
The objections and the replies alike were written by people. Here is where they come from.
- Linoli O., histological, immunological, and biochemical study of the Lanciano relic, Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratorio 1971 (PubMed PMID 4950729)
- Kearse KP., shared AB typing in relics of Jesus and Eucharistic miracles, Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology 2025 — with the reply by Serafini F. (2025) and Kearse's counter-reply (2026) in the same journal
- Kearse KP. and Ligaj F., scientific analysis of Eucharistic miracles and standardizing the criteria of evaluation, Journal of Forensic Science and Research 2024 — the unconsecrated-host experiment
- François B., Sternberg EM., and Fee E., the Lourdes medical cures re-examined, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 2014
- Garlaschelli L., Ramaccini F., and Della Sala S., “Working bloody miracles,” Nature vol. 353 p. 507, 1991
- Damon PE. et al., radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin, Nature vol. 337, 1989 — and the textile analysis of the 1988 sample fragments, npj Heritage Science vol. 14, 2026
- Brading DA., Mexican Phoenix: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cambridge University Press 2001
- Luzzatto S., Padre Pio: Miracoli e politica nell'Italia del Novecento, Einaudi 2007
A pilgrimage is a help to faith, not a condition of it. No shrine replaces treatment. If anyone demands that you stop treatment, or promises miracles through money, secrecy, or fear, ask for help at once from a guardian you trust, from medical professionals, and from the relevant authorities.