Miracles in France are not, apparently, what they were. Or not according to the critics of a new initiative in Lourdes, the famous center of Christian pilgrimage in southwest France, known for the scores of Catholic believers who, it is claimed, have recovered from serious illnesses there.
Monsignor Jacques Perrier, bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes and the most senior cleric at the Catholic shrine, announced a "reform" of miracles there last week. Henceforth, there will be new categories of "healing" recognized which take into account advances of modern science. These will include: "unexpected healings," "confirmed healings" and "exceptional healings."
Critics say he is "devaluing" God's interventions in order to counter increasingly fierce competition in France from evangelical and pentecostal churches.
"Is this the end of miracles at Lourdes?" asked a headline in the Depeche du Midi newspaper.
No, it isn't, the bishop said.
"This is something I have been thinking about for 15 years. It has got absolutely nothing to do with any other [churches]. It is a totally internal matter," he said last week.
"We are no longer in the 19th century and we need to recognize that. Fundamentally, it remains a matter of faith and prayer," Perrier said.
The problem for Lourdes, a town devoted to the shrine and the needs of its millions of pilgrims, is that there have not been many miracles recently. A total of 67 miraculous healings have been recognized at Lourdes since 1858, when a 14-year-old peasant girl claimed that she had seen the Virgin Mary in a cave.
However, there have only been four miracles since 1978.
There are said to be thousands of other healings in the Lourdes files that do not meet the strict criteria laid down by the Vatican around 300 years ago. This is the problem the bishop is trying to address.
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