Vatican Set New Rules in Confirming Healing Miracles for Scientific, Accountability Reasons

Vatican has recently announced changes in the rules for the process in determining if an alleged healing can be qualified as miracle for sainthood.

One of the reasons why the Vatican decided to change its rules is to maintain the scientific rigor of the examination and preserve its distinction from theology. Furthermore, the changes in the rule reflects the demand of Pope Francis to have more accountability in the process after it was revealed that there was virtually no financial insights.

"The purpose of the Regulation can be none other than the good of the Causes, which can never neglect the historical and scientific truth of the alleged miracles," explained Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci, Secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in a report from Catholic News Agency. "Just as it is necessary for the legal checks to be complete, convergent and reliable, it is also necessary that their study be performed with serenity, objectivity and sure competence by highly specialised medical experts."

Under the new regulations, an alleged healing should have supermajority of the votes from members of the Medical Board before it can continue to the next step. However, if a presumed miracle was unable to pass before the board of medical experts for three times, it will not be presented for consideration. When a presumed miracle that failed three times is accepted for re-examination, the new rule requires the Medical Board to have nine members.

Additionally, the new regulations require experts who are studying the presumed miracles to be paid through bank transfers, no longer cash. This rule was made because saint-making process has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations per candidate in the past, but virtually no financial oversight was available.

 According to the report from USA Today, medical experts examining the alleged miracle "are obliged with an oath, to examine the case according to science and conscience and to observe the secrecy."