The miracle that served to take the Polish Pope to the altar happened in Costa Rica. Floribet Mora, after learning that she had an aneurism and that she could not undergo surgery because it was located at the base of her brain, prayed for the intercession of the recently named Blessed John Paul II. The miracle was amply certified. ZENIT spoke today in Rome with Doctor Mariano Ramirez Carbajal, assigned by the bishops of Costa Rica to confirm the miracle, who explained what the doctors saw before and after the miracle.
ZENIT: Why were you chosen as the medical expert in the process of verifying the miracle of Floribet Mora, and what happened?
Dr. Carbajal: I was chosen for being the doctor with the greatest experience, as I was the oldest. In the case of this lady, the cerebral aneurism that had been diagnosed in the Calderon Guardia Hospital of Costa Rica disappeared spontaneously.
ZENIT: What did they tell Floribet when they took care of her in the Calderon Guardia Hospital?
Dr. Carbajal: After seeing the examinations, the relatives were told; “take her home, because there is nothing that can be done.” Moreover, in the United States, Mexico and Costa Rica, they said she was “inoperable,” and if they went ahead [with an operation] she would remain in a “vegetative” state.
ZENIT: Is there any margin of doubt in Floribet’s cure?
Dr. Carbajal: The margin of doubt is zero, and in my experience, I have never seen a spontaneous cure of an aneurism, but yes many deaths from aneurisms. There are cures with surgery, but in this case, as the problem was at the base of the brain, it was not possible.
ZENIT: Have there been cases of spontaneous cures of aneurisms in the world?
Dr. Carbajal: No, that’s why we are here. That is why the Church has accepted it.
ZENIT: What did they indicate to you as expert and to the Medical Commission that followed her
Dr. Carbajal: On the day of the interview with the Commission of the process, of which I was the “devil’s advocate,” neurosurgeon Alejandro Vargas of the Calderon Guardia Hospital explained to us the physiology and the pathogenesis and he showed us the images and the examinations, the positive with the pathology and the negative when everything looks normal. And the neuro-surgeon pointed out that there is no explanation for this event.
ZENIT: And if she was not cured, what would happen?
Dr. Carbajal: The patient would die. They didn’t know when but, sooner or later she would die. I have had a patient for years with an aneurism of the jugular and she is still alive.
ZENIT: And when she learned that
Dr. Carbajal: She began to cry, but she had confidence in John Paul II because his beatification had been on May 1 and she heard his voice. But who was going to believe that?
ZENIT: Is there no medical explanation or a margin of doubt?
Dr. Carbajal: No, there absolutely isn’t. The images of the arteriography indicate the trajectory of all the cerebral arteries, because neither the Tac nor the magnetic resonance show the arterial trajectories. Then they did another arteriography here at the Gemelli, and there is no evidence that anything has been formed or traces of it.
[Translation by ZENIT]
