The examination of a healing begins with the specific medical history: what was diagnosed, what treatment took place, and what changed permanently? In Lourdes, the Medical Bureau and the international medical committee examine these questions; the responsible bishop decides on the Church's recognition. Nonbelieving physicians also participate in the medical examination. Beatifications and canonizations have their own Roman procedural rules.
Recognition of a miracle connects the precise medical examination of a healing with the separate assessment of its context of prayer and its religious significance.
Establishing the Specific Change
Physicians compare the condition before and after recovery. This includes the diagnosis, severity of the illness, treatments used, and documented changes. In an anatomical malformation, earlier and later findings are compared; after surgery, the recovery to be expected from the operation is examined. Freedom from pain, regained walking ability, and the disappearance of an organic change are each examined using the appropriate investigations.[1][5]
The decisive comparisons are: who made the diagnosis, what treatment did the person receive, who examined the person after the change, how long did the recovery last, and what medical explanations were considered? In this way, the initial report becomes an examinable history of illness and healing.[1][5]
The Path from the Lourdes Bureau to the Bishop
The Bureau des Constatations Médicales collects previous findings and examines whether recovery is real and lasting. Suitable cases go to the international medical committee, CMIL, which deepens the specialist assessments. A two-thirds majority is required to establish a manner of healing unexplained by current knowledge. The result is then referred to the responsible bishop of the person's diocese of residence; he examines the religious context and decides on public recognition of the miracle.[1]
The stages of the proceedings remain identifiable: acceptance of a report, an ongoing specialist examination, a favorable medical judgment, and episcopal recognition are successive steps. A case can also remain short of formal recognition as a miracle.[1]
Medical Examination across Religious Boundaries
The Medical Bureau was established in 1883. A medical committee was formed in 1947 and given an international scope in 1954. Its task is the professional assessment of recovery according to the medical knowledge available at the time.[2]
The Lourdes Bureau's clinical discussions are open to physicians present regardless of their religious convictions. As its head, Alessandro de Franciscis expressly confirmed the participation of agnostics, atheists, and physicians critical of the Church. What matters for their participation is their medical qualification and examination of the specific case.[3][4]
The Rules for Beatifications and Canonizations
For the Roman Consulta Medica, the procedural rules of 2016 first require two independently prepared specialist medical reports. Direct contact between the appointed physicians and the petitioner or postulator is prohibited. The committee consists of seven members; at least six must be present. A favorable result requires five votes out of seven or four out of six. After three deferring or negative consultations, a further submission is excluded.[6]
Treating physicians and other knowledgeable witnesses are already questioned, and medical documents collected, during the diocesan investigation. Sergio La Pegna expressly explains for the responsible Dicastery that nonbelieving, non-Christian, or non-Catholic physicians may also be heard as witnesses. This hearing of witnesses is a particular task within the proceedings; the later medical consultation has its own composition and responsibilities.[5]
What Physicians Establish and What the Church Recognizes
The medical assessment concerns illness, recovery, and the question of an adequate explanation through known causes. The ecclesiastical examination additionally asks about the connection with prayer and intercession and the event's meaning in the person's life. In Lourdes, the responsible bishop makes this judgment. In beatifications and canonizations, the medical assessment is followed by theological consultations and the decision on the decree concerning the miracle.[1][5]
Witnesses & Investigators
The Person Concerned
Testimony and medical history
The person's account is the starting point; previous findings and follow-up examinations must remain distinguishable from it.[1]
Bureau and CMIL
Medical assessment
Examine diagnosis, recovery, and possible medical explanations.[1][2]
The Responsible Diocesan Bishop
Ecclesiastical Judgment
Decides on public ecclesiastical recognition.[1]
The unfolding story
Ecclesiastical assessment
Methods dossier distinguishing medical findings from ecclesiastical recognition. It describes no miracle of its own.
Objections & Answers
Does medically unexplained already mean scientific proof of divine action?
The medical finding states that the specific course of healing has no adequate medical explanation in light of the knowledge examined. Recognition as a miracle additionally takes the religious context into account. Precisely for that reason, medical assessment and ecclesiastical judgment are separate steps in the proceedings.[1][5]
Are the participating physicians an atheist panel, or are they all advocati diaboli?
The documented openness to nonbelieving physicians does not permit a blanket statement about every committee member's convictions. Likewise, the Promotor fidei is a distinct function: the Roman rules provide for his participation in the Consulta without voting rights. The physicians examine specialist medical questions in their respective roles.[3][4][6]
What limits does examination based on public summaries have?
A summary usually contains the result and selected findings, not all medical records and expert reports. It allows the responsible authority, date, and published reasoning to be checked. An independent medical reassessment additionally requires the original findings. In historical cases, the investigative possibilities of the time and the transmission of the testimony must also be considered.[1][5]
Can a healing testimony guide a personal treatment decision?
Another person's course of illness is not an individual treatment recommendation. Changes to therapy belong within the care of the treating professionals. The examination of a miracle investigates an extraordinary individual case; it does not describe a reliably repeatable treatment method. Prayer and medical care can belong together in a sick person's life.
Meaning for faith
Medical expertise, named witnesses, and traceable procedural steps give the examination of a healing its foundation. Participation by nonbelieving physicians is expressly possible. The Church subsequently assesses the specific context of prayer and decides on recognition as a miracle.[1][3][4][5][6]
Examining Healings: From Findings to the Church's Judgment
Diagnosis, treatment, the course of healing, and ecclesiastical recognition are examined separately.
Methods of examination and ecclesiastical procedure →Sources & Evidence
Information on accessibility and scope helps you assess the evidence for yourself.
- [1] La reconnaissance d’un miracle
Primary account of the procedure by the shrine; not to be equated with canonization proceedings.
Open source · lourdes-france.com ↗ - [2] Le Bureau des Constatations Médicales
Institutional self-description; individual officeholders are not required for this dossier.
Open source · lourdes-france.com ↗ - [3] Le Bureau des Constatations médicales
Institutional description of open medical discussions; not a current list of officeholders.
Open source · lourdes-france.org ↗ - [4] Il medico che analizza i miracoli di Lourdes: Da me le persone vengono per dirmi che sono guarite
The Bureau director's own testimony; time-dependent membership or case numbers are not adopted.
Open source · famigliacristiana.it ↗ - [5] Il miracolo: accertamento degli elementi scientifici e teologici – Inchiesta diocesana
Explanation of the diocesan investigation and hearing of witnesses.
Open source · causesanti.va ↗ - [6] Regulations of the Medical Board of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints
Arts. 6, 8, 10–11, 15, and 18; the Promotor fidei participates without voting rights.
Open source · causesanti.va ↗