In June 2006, I interviewed a most extraordinary doctor, Giuseppe Bolignano (above), a virologist at the metro hospital in Reggio Calabria. A few years earlier, he had given up on a patient who seemed to have been defeated by an awful case of meningitis. He advised the family to pull the plug. Instead, they prayed overtime to Padre Gaetano Catanoso. When this patient arose from her coma, her inexplicable recovery was later deemed by the Vatican, and Pope John Paul II, as a miracle — the miracle which led to Padre Gaetano’s canonization on October 23, 2005.

During my interview with Dr. Bolignano, I asked him about the line between science and religion, between the cold facts of biology and the mystical nature of the supernatural. His response: “There is a line that is incredible and unexplainable, and when you cross it, there is nothing else left but faith.” Bolignano’s faith is strong, even for an accomplished scientist. While his colleagues at the hospital are skeptical, he is not. He believed he witnessed a miracle.

This story came to mind when I heard about this survey, which reports that fewer doctors believe in the importance of every day prayer.

This relic can be seen in the church St. Pasquale of Baylon in Chorio, a little village in southern Calabria where St. Gaetano Catanoso was born — as well as my grandfather. The relic is actually a thin piece of skin from the saint. Catholics, of course, believe relics are holy objects, closely associated with the sacred departed, that maintain mystical and sometime miraculous powers when prayed over.

Please see the video at the Multimedia button called Sacred Relics for more details.

Associated Press: By selecting a Pennsylvania-born Catholic as his No. 2, Obama is betting the potential rewards — including swaying elusive lunch-pail Catholics in the Midwest — outweigh the risks.

The whole story is here.