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American Morning

Who Decides What Is a Miracle?

Aired December 25, 2003 - 08:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If you're celebrating Christmas today, you may believe that it's a holiday that's based on a miracle, one that took place thousands of years ago in Bethlehem. But what about today's muscles? Who decides what is or what is not a miracle?
We asked our Rome bureau chief, Alessio Vinci, to get some answers from the Vatican.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You hear the word used almost every day.

AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This Christmas, the miracle on 45th Street.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: How he lived is nothing short of a miracle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we've had a lot of miracles lately.

VINCI: But what really is a miracle? In the Catholic Church, there are some tough standards before they will use the word.

FATHER PETER GUMPEL, VATICAN INVESTIGATOR: A miracle is an extraordinary fact in the physical order for which no human explanation can be found and which therefore can and must be attributed to god.

VINCI: Like in Naples, where thousands gather three times a year to witness what they see as a miracle. The blood of the city's patron saint, San Gennaro, a martyr who died in 305 A.D., becomes bright red and sometimes even bubbles. The faithful believe this saves the city from disasters.

So how does the Vatican certify a miracle?

Father Peter Gumpel is one of six Vatican judges who, among other things, verify miracles. And because these days most claims are unexpected medical cures, the Vatican relies on a pool of about 70 doctors to see if there is any scientific explanation.

GUMPEL: It is simply and purely thus. If you are a specialist in the field of medicine, now, can you give us an explanation of this cure?

VINCI: What investigators are looking for is not an exceptional cure, but an inexplicable one.

GUMPEL: The person is, must be, it must be excluded definitely. Here no explanation is possible.

VINCI: Father Gumpel's last verified miracle, in 1996, a woman in Chile who woke from an irreversible coma.

GUMPEL: They resort to prayer to god and then from one moment to another everything disappeared.

VINCI: Father Gumpel welcomes the skeptics.

GUMPEL: Let him put forward what he has to say and then we'll see of the outcome.

VINCI: Once a case is certified by the investigators, it goes to a panel of cardinals, bishops and theologians and ultimately to the pope himself, who always has the last word.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 25, 2003 - 08:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If you're celebrating Christmas today, you may believe that it's a holiday that's based on a miracle, one that took place thousands of years ago in Bethlehem. But what about today's muscles? Who decides what is or what is not a miracle?
We asked our Rome bureau chief, Alessio Vinci, to get some answers from the Vatican.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You hear the word used almost every day.

AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This Christmas, the miracle on 45th Street.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: How he lived is nothing short of a miracle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we've had a lot of miracles lately.

VINCI: But what really is a miracle? In the Catholic Church, there are some tough standards before they will use the word.

FATHER PETER GUMPEL, VATICAN INVESTIGATOR: A miracle is an extraordinary fact in the physical order for which no human explanation can be found and which therefore can and must be attributed to god.

VINCI: Like in Naples, where thousands gather three times a year to witness what they see as a miracle. The blood of the city's patron saint, San Gennaro, a martyr who died in 305 A.D., becomes bright red and sometimes even bubbles. The faithful believe this saves the city from disasters.

So how does the Vatican certify a miracle?

Father Peter Gumpel is one of six Vatican judges who, among other things, verify miracles. And because these days most claims are unexpected medical cures, the Vatican relies on a pool of about 70 doctors to see if there is any scientific explanation.

GUMPEL: It is simply and purely thus. If you are a specialist in the field of medicine, now, can you give us an explanation of this cure?

VINCI: What investigators are looking for is not an exceptional cure, but an inexplicable one.

GUMPEL: The person is, must be, it must be excluded definitely. Here no explanation is possible.

VINCI: Father Gumpel's last verified miracle, in 1996, a woman in Chile who woke from an irreversible coma.

GUMPEL: They resort to prayer to god and then from one moment to another everything disappeared.

VINCI: Father Gumpel welcomes the skeptics.

GUMPEL: Let him put forward what he has to say and then we'll see of the outcome.

VINCI: Once a case is certified by the investigators, it goes to a panel of cardinals, bishops and theologians and ultimately to the pope himself, who always has the last word.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com