GUADALAJARA, Mexico (LifeSiteNews) – As news of an alleged Eucharistic miracle in Guadalajara swiftly spread on social media, the local Catholic prelate has spoken out, telling the media that he has not yet received any official report from the parish priest or parishioners.
The alleged Eucharistic miracle took place at Our Lady of the Rosary parish in the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, Mexico, during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass on July 22. Reports of the incident made their way round social media through a video posted in late July. A video of the alleged miracle shows what appears to be a host beating like a human heart.
Milagro en mexico mientras el padre Carlos Spahn exponía el santísimo la hostia empezó a palpitar. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼💖💖 pic.twitter.com/DkOjnBzgQi
— Deydea Galindo (@DeydeaGalindo) July 25, 2022
Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega, of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, spoke to the press on July 31, saying he had not yet been notified by the pastor of the parish or any of the faithful regarding the alleged miracle. He underscored the seriousness of the matter, given that it concerned the sacrament of the Eucharist.
The cardinal said that the claim that a Eucharistic miracle has occurred is “very serious, because it’s a matter of the greatest sacrament of our faith, where we are certain, sure of the real, living presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.”
Emphasizing the importance of submitting the matter to the proper ecclesiastical authority, Ortega said, “It’s a very sensitive issue that some extraordinary element be recorded or made official without the ecclesiastical authority knowing what happened, reviewing the details that have to be reviewed in order to say that it’s a supernatural, prodigious act, a miracle.”
Ortega pointed out that no one had yet approached him from the parish. “Up to this moment,” he said, “I haven’t received any report from the parish priest, nor from the priest who led the prayer, nor from the faithful themselves who experienced what they saw.”
“Absolutely no one has approached me to say ‘here’s what happened, the evidence we have, you decide.’ No one has approached me,” he said.
The cardinal lamented the lack of testimony and evidence, which prevented him from investigating the matter to determine its authenticity. “Up to now, he said, “I have no means to make a pronouncement. I would have to do a painstaking investigation and come to determine what it is.”
Cautioning against an overly rash credulity when it comes to videos of extraordinary occurrences, Ortega warned, “there are videos of so many things, and so many things can be created that seem real and are not.”
Should an occurrence prove false after an over-hasty judgment from the Church, the cardinal said this would undermine the Church’s authority. “Imagine that someone puts together a possible miracle scenario and then the authority simply declares it to be so, and afterward it’s proven to be a vile setup… It is very sensitive, feelings are at play, with the faith of the people; it discredits the authority, the seriousness of the Church.”
The cardinal also drew attention to the sacramental reality of Christ’s substantial presence — a presence that does not depend on any extraordinary, sensible manifestation, but upon the truth of Christ’s words at the Last Supper and the sacramental power communicated to the Church in the ordained priesthood. “For the Church,” Ortega reminded the faithful, “in each Eucharist that is celebrated, Jesus becomes really and truly present in the consecrated bread and in the consecrated wine, regardless of whether it bleeds, palpitates, or it doesn’t palpitate.”
Pointing to the “miracle” of Christ’s real presence, Ortega recalled to the faithful the fact that faith in that presence does not depend on sensible manifestations. “The miracle,” he said, “is that the living presence of Jesus Christ is realized and our faith does not ordinarily need these supernatural manifestations.”
LifeSiteNews reached out to the Archdiocese of Guadalajara for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication. Updates will be issued should a response be forthcoming.