Pope 'cured' leukaemia

2005-04-17 09:01

Mexico City - A Mexican man who suffered from leukaemia as a boy is crediting Pope John Paul II with performing a lifesaving miracle when the pontiff kissed his head in 1990.

Reports of miracles attributed to John Paul are fuelling speculation he soon may be placed on the path to sainthood - although for a miracle to be considered in the saint-making process it has to have occurred after John Paul's death.

Jose Heron Badillo was 4 when the pope visited his home state of Zacatecas, Mexico; Badillo had received treatment both locally and in Mexico City for leukaemia, but the family considered his disease incurable.

But after greeting the pope, he said his disease essentially disappeared.

"He saw me there, with my body weakened, and he asked God to alleviate my condition," Badillo said in a telephone interview. "I felt a very great emotion, a degree of happiness I believe is the greatest possible. It's something hard to describe in words."

His family, and their priest, have no doubt it was a miracle.

"We thank God and the pope, because it was through him that the miracle was performed," said Laura Patricia Badillo, 18, his younger sister. "We are so very grateful."

Jose Heron's cure occurred while John Paul was very much alive, meaning it should have little bearing whether the pope is canonised. But that matters little to the family.

"For us, he was a saint from the moment he interceded on our behalf," Badillo said. "His passing was hard for us, but it was easier because we know he went to be with the God. If he helped us so much here on earth, imagine how much greater his intercession will be up there."

The documentation on the case has been sent to Rome, said Father Humberto Salinas, a priest from the diocese of northern Zacatecas state who befriended the family.

Kissed the boy's head

The boy had been selected in 1990 to hold a dove as part of the airport ceremonies to welcome John Paul. "The family didn't come to ask for anything," said Salinas. "They just wanted him to be near the Pope."

"The pope kissed the boy's head. He had lost his hair already, and his face bore the marks of the radiation therapy," Salinas recalled. "The Pope was smiling, and he told the boy to let the dove go."

Badillo recalls that before meeting the Pope, "I hadn't eaten anything for 10 or 15 days. After that, I got my appetite back and began to eat."

Soon thereafter, he claimed tests showed the disease had disappeared.

"The doctors said it was a rapid and complete recovery," Salinas said. Asked if it was a miracle, Salinas said that "given the life and holiness of John Paul II and the faith of the boy and his family, I don't think there is any reason to doubt it".

Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who headed the Vatican office on health care issues under John Paul, said there was no medical explanation for the boy's recovery.

- AP