What happened later that night has changed Sister Marie's life—and could propel her hero John Paul II along the road to sainthood. "It was as if I heard a voice say to me, 'Take your pen and write,'" Sister Marie, 46, told reporters gathered in Aix-en-Provence March 30 to hear her story. To her amazement "the writing was very legible," she said. The next morning the nun says she jumped out of bed: Her Parkinson's had vanished—a mystery confirmed by a local medical team.
On April 2 Simon-Pierre recounted her story to Vatican officials. If her claim can be verified—by theologians, a psychiatrist and doctors who must declare they cannot explain her recovery—Sister Marie's healing will be considered a miracle, a critical step in the process to declare John Paul II a saint. "In order to count, it has to be instantaneous, complete and lasting, not just 'Hey, I feel a little better,'" says John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter.
Even if the nun's claim falters, John Paul II's prospects look good: The Vatican has hundreds of reports of miracles he supposedly performed, and Pope Benedict XVI has made his case a priority. As for Simon-Pierre, now working at a Paris clinic, what happens next is out of her hands. "I was sick and now I am cured," she said. "It is for the church to say whether it is a miracle."
- Contributors:
- Reported by Silvia Sansoni,
- Dana Kennedy.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
