An alleged Lourdes miracle is being investigated – on a BBC TV programme.
Kazik Stepan, from Kent, says he was cured of an inoperable spinal condition in 1965, when he visited the Marian pilgrimage site as a teenager. He believes a medical miracle took place after he bathed in the famous waters of Lourdes.
Although many thousands of pilgrims claim to have been cured at Lourdes, the Church has only officially recognised 70 miracles.
The programme will follow the investigation by the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, a team of doctors who look into possible medical explanations for claimed miracles.
The BBC programme Songs of Praise is expected to reveal the doctors’ verdict in its broadcast on Sunday, September 15. If the doctors declare the miracle to have no medical explanation, it will be referred to the local bishop and the Vatican, who will then consider whether it can be officially considered miraculous.
Stepan would be the first Briton to have a miraculous cure at Lourdes recognised. But there are no guarantees. A Liverpudlian marine, Jack Traynor, claimed to have been miraculously cured of paralysis in 1923. But although the story is widely believed, it has not been officially approved.
