Catholic Church to raise standard for miracles

Francis canonising John XXIII and John Paul II in 2014. (Jeffrey Bruno/Aleteia CC-BY-SA 2.0).

‘Under the current rules, the Vatican declares something a ‘miracle’ if more than 50% of all experts (several dozens) vote in favour,’ the Dutch (Protestant-leaning) newspaper Trouw reports. ‘That bar will be raised to 66%.’ Apparently, the pope still doesn’t realise you can’t just suspend the laws of nature by majority vote.

Interestingly, the paper adds that ‘the number of miracles was already declining in recent decades – possibly because doctors can explain more and more’, implying that declaring something a ‘miracle’ may be nothing more than an argument from ignorance.

Date: 4th October 2016

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What are the beliefs of the Swedish public? – The VoF Study

False ideas both historically and today, have in many cases led to disastrous consequences. To achieve a deeper knowledge of how Swedes today relate to these questions, VoF (aka the Swedish Skeptic Association) commissioned an opinion poll in the early summer of 2015. This survey covers a wide range of issues that are of interest from a skeptical point of view.

A PDF document (in English) can be downloaded from VoF’s web site here: The VoF-study 2015