Michael August - September 2013

Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires in 1996

The inquiry was commissioned by Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis

by Fr. Mieczysław Piotrowski, SChr

The weakening of faith in the real presence of the

Risen Christ in the Eucharist is one of the most signifi-

cant aspects of the current spiritual crisis. Jesus wants

to strengthen our faith in His Eucharistic presence. That

is why from time to time in the history of the Catholic

Church He gives us signs – Eucharistic miracles that

clearly underscore the fact that He, the Risen Lord Him-

self in the mystery of His Divinity and glorified human-

ity, is truly present in the Eucharist. The most recent

Eucharistic miracle recognized by the Church author-

ities occurred in 1996 in the capital of Argentina – Bue-

nos Aires.

A consecrated Host becomes flesh and blood

At seven o’clock in

the evening on August

18, 1996, Fr. Alejandro

Pezet was saying Holy

Mass at a Catholic church

in the commercial center

of Buenos Aires. As he

was finishing distribut-

ing Holy Communion, a

woman came up to tell

him that she had found

a discarded host on a candleholder at the back of the

church. On going to the spot indicated, Fr. Alejandro

saw the defiled Host. Since he was unable to consume

it, he placed it in a container of water and put it away in

the tabernacle of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

On Monday, August 26, upon opening the tab-

ernacle, he saw to his amazement that the Host had

turned into a bloody substance. He informed Cardinal

Jorge Bergoglio, who gave instructions that the Host

be professionally photographed. The photos were

taken on September 6. They clearly show that the Host,

which had become a fragment of bloodied flesh, had

grown significantly in size. For several years the Host

remained in the tabernacle, the whole affair being kept

a strict secret. Since the Host suffered no visible de-

composition, Cardinal Bergoglio decided to have it sci-

entifically analyzed.

On October 5, 1999, in the presence of the Cardin-

al’s representatives, Dr. Castanon took a sample of the

bloody fragment and sent it to New York for analysis.

Since he did not wish to prejudice the study, he pur-

posely did not inform the team of scientists of its ori-

gin. One of these scientists was Dr. Frederic Zugiba, the

well-known cardiologist and forensic pathologist. He

determined that the analyzed substance was real flesh

and blood containing human DNA. Dr. Zugiba testified

that, “the analyzed material is a fragment of the heart

muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to

the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contrac-

tion of the heart.

It should be borne in mind that the

left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the

body.

The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition

and contains a large number of white blood cells. This

indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample

was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive,

since white blood cells die outside a living organism.

They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus,

their presence indicates that the heart was alive when

the sample was taken. What is more, these white blood

cells had penetrated the tissue, which further indicates

that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the

owner had been beaten severely about the chest.”

Two Australians, journalist Mike Willesee and law-

yer Ron Tesoriero, witnessed these tests. Knowing

where the sample had come from, they were dumb-

founded by Dr. Zugiba’s testimony. Mike Willesee asked

the scientist how long the white blood cells would have

remained alive if they had come from a piece of human

tissue, which had been kept in water. They would have

ceased to exist in a matter of minutes, Dr. Zugiba re-

plied. The journalist then told the doctor that the source

of the sample had first been kept in ordinary water for

a month and then for another three years in a container

of distilled water; only then had the sample been taken

for analysis.

Dr. Zugiba’s was at a loss to account for this fact.

There was no way of explaining it scientifically, he stat-

ed. Only then did Mike Willesee inform Dr. Zugiba that

the analyzed sample came from a consecrated Host

(white, unleavened bread) that had mysteriously turned

into bloody human flesh. Amazed by this information,

Dr. Zugiba replied, “How and why a consecrated Host

would change its character and become living human

flesh and blood will remain an inexplicable mystery to

science — a mystery totally beyond its competence.”

Fr. Pezet with Cardinal Bergoglio

Only faith in the extraordinary action of a God pro-

vides the reasonable answer — faith in a God, who

wants to make us aware that He is truly present in the

mystery of the Eucharist.

The Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires is an extra-

ordinary sign attested to by science. Through it Jesus

desires to arouse in us a lively faith in His real pres-

ence in the Eucharist. He reminds us that His presence

is real, and not symbolic. Only with the eyes of faith

do we see Him under appearance of the consecrated

bread and wine. We do not see Him with our bodily

eyes, since He is present in His glorified humanity. In

the Eucharist Jesus sees and loves us and desires to

save us.

In collaboration with Ron Tesori-

ero, Mike Willesee, one of Australia’s

best-known journalists (he con-

verted to Catholicism after working

on the documents of another Eucha-

ristic miracle) wrote a book entitled

Reason to Believe

. In it they present

documented facts of Eucharistic

miracles and other signs calling

people to faith in Christ who abides

and teaches in the Catholic Church.

They have also made a documen-

tary film on the Eucharist — based

largely on the scientific discoveries

associated with the miraculous Host

in Buenos Aires. Their aim was to

give a clear presentation of the Cath-

olic Church’s teaching on the subject of the Eucharist.

They screened the film in numerous Australian

cities. The showing at Adelaide drew a crowd of two

thousand viewers. During the commentary and ques-

tion period that followed a visibly moved man stood up

announcing that he was blind. Having learned that this

was an exceptional film, he had very much wanted to

see it. Just before the screening, he prayed fervently to

Jesus for the grace to see the film. At once his sight was

restored to him, but only for the thirty-minute duration

of the film. Upon its conclusion, he again lost the ability

to see. He confirmed this by describing in minute detail

certain scenes of the film. It was an incredible event that

moved those present to the core of their being.

Through such wondrous signs God calls souls to

conversion. If Jesus causes the Host to become vis-

ible flesh and blood, a muscle that is responsible for

the contraction of a human heart — a heart that suf-

fers like that of someone who has been beaten severely

about the chest, if He does such things, it is in order to

arouse and quicken our faith in His real presence in the

Eucharist. He thus enables us to see that Holy Mass is

a re-presentation (i.e. a making present) of the entire

drama of our salvation: Christ’s passion, death, and

resurrection. Jesus says to his disciples, “Unless you

people see signs and wonders, you will not believe”

(Jn 4: 48). There is no need to actively seek out won-

drous signs. But if Jesus chooses to give them to us,

then it behooves us to accept them with meekness and

seek to understand what He desires to tell us by them.

Thanks to these signs, many people have discovered

faith in God — the One God in the Holy Trinity, who

reveals His Son to us: Jesus Christ, who abides in the

sacraments and teaches us through Holy Scripture and

the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

A mystery that surpasses our understanding

The Eucharist — the actual presence of the risen

person of Jesus under the appearances of bread and

wine — is one of the most important and most difficult

truths revealed to us by Christ. Eucharistic miracles are

merely visible confirmations of what

He tells us about Himself; namely,

that He really does give us His glori-

fied body and blood as spiritual food

and drink...

The Eucharist is Christ’s supreme

gift and miracle, for in it He gives us

Himself and engages us in His work

of salvation. He enables us to par-

ticipate in His victory over death, sin,

and Satan, to share in the divine na-

ture, and partake of the life of the Holy

Trinity. In the Eucharist we receive

“the medicine of immortality, the anti-

dote to death” (Encyclical

Ecclesia

de Eucharistia

, 18). For this reason,

Mother Church holds that every de-

liberate and freely willed absence from Holy Mass on

Sunday is an irretrievable spiritual loss, a sign of loss of

faith, and hence a serious sin. Let us also remember that

if “a Christian’s conscience is burdened by serious sin,

then the path of penance through the sacrament of Rec-

onciliation becomes necessary for full participation in

the Eucharistic Sacrifice” (

Ecclesia de Eucharistia

, 37).

Fr. M. Piotrowski SChr

www.loamagazine.org

MICHAEL August/September 2013