'Miracle man' meets the Pope

By Rachel Wright
Producer for This World: I Believe in Miracles

Pope Benedict has continued the trend of creating more saints

Ceremonies to create new saints have become a regular occurrence at the Vatican, with thousands of pilgrims from around the world travelling to Rome to witness them.

It's 6am outside the Vatican and 20,000 people are jostling for position.

All of a sudden a barrier is opened and thousands of people surge forward like shoppers at the opening of the Harrods sale.

A crowd of Mexican priests gesticulate wildly and a roar goes up.

Saints do bring huge crowds to the Vatican and energise support for the church around the world

They are trying to stop a group of Italians from jumping the queue. People start to scream as they are squeezed by the mass of bodies pressing to get into the square.

Groups from Mexico, the United States, Italy and France had all come to cheer for their candidate for sainthood. Vatican officials, however, seemed unconcerned about crowd control.

Phil McCord was among the crowd. He had not been expecting such a scrum.

"I've been battered black and blue by a group of Mexican nuns who were, quite frankly, rude."

Miracle man

Mr McCord was one of a group of pilgrims from Terre Haute, Indiana.

But he is not an ordinary pilgrim. Just over six years ago his eye was healed from a serious illness after he prayed to Mother Theodore Guerin, the founder of the convent where he works.

At least 12 doctors were consulted about his remarkable recovery, and none could find a medical explanation for his cure.

The Catholic Church subsequently ruled it was a miracle.

As this was the second miracle attributed to Mother Theodore Guerin - and the Church says that it takes two miracles for a holy person to qualify for sainthood - the former hospital administrator's miracle meant Mother Guerin would be made into a saint.

Canonisation ceremony

The canonisation ceremony in Rome paved the way for Mr McCord, not then a Catholic, to meet the Pope.

"We came round the altar and stood on the carpet and I had just a moment there while the others were moving forward and I looked up and thought, "Oh my God, I'm right here and there's the Pope," he said.

Mr McCord has now started classes to join the church

The encounter was not without its problems.

"Trouble is," Mr McCord said, as he jostled with the thousands of people trying to leave the square, "the dry-cleaners put the wrong pants in - they're a different colour from the jacket and they don't fit."

He pointed at his ankles. The trousers were a good couple of inches too short.

"So when I knelt down in front of the Pope I thought he was going to say, "What? You couldn't stretch to matching pants?"

The late Pope John Paul II created 482 saints, more than had been canonised in the previous 500 years. And Pope Benedict XVI appears to be continuing the trend.

Tourism boost

The impact this growth in saints is having on the emotionally and financial power of the Catholic Church is undeniable.

Saints bring huge crowds to the Vatican and energise support for the church around the world.

Back in the Sisters of Providence convent in Terre Haute, Indiana, the nuns are only too well aware of the prestige a local saint brings them. Despite dying 150 years ago, St Theodore Guerin is now a local celebrity.

Her bones have been dug up and reburied above ground in what will now become the shrine of St Theodore. A highway has been renamed in her honour.

Groups of pilgrims have begun to flock to the convent to pray at the shrine and takings in the gift shop are up 600%, with replica statues of St Theodore selling particularly well.

Mr McCord, a facilities manager at the convent, seems happy with the part he has played in helping the Sisters of Providence.

"The tourism people think that there will be a continuing pull from people with tour buses, who buy gifts and stay overnight, so we will be a continuing attraction for the area," he said.

He has started classes to join the church. The Sisters of Providence hope he will be the first of many who will be inspired by St Theodore to convert.

This World's "I believe in miracles" will be broadcast on Tuesday 8 May 2007 at 2150 BST on BBC Two.