Amanda Paola: Unborn Baby Survives Against All Odds — Paul VI's Canonization Miracle

In September 2014, Vanna Pironato, 35, was hospitalized near Verona after her placenta ruptured prematurely, placing both her life and her unborn daughter's at serious risk. Doctors gave the pregnancy little chance.

Ten days after Paul VI's beatification on October 19, 2014, her husband Alberto brought her to the Shrine of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Brescia — Paul VI's hometown — and the couple prayed for his intercession. Vanna's condition stabilized. Their daughter Amanda Maria Paola was born on December 25, 2014, in good health.

The Vatican medical board reviewed the case and found the baby's survival inexplicable given the initial obstetric presentation. Theologians approved in December 2017; cardinals and bishops voted unanimously in favor in February 2018. Pope Francis confirmed the miracle on March 6, 2018. Paul VI was canonized alongside Oscar Romero on October 14, 2018.

The honest uncertainty: public accounts use language like "broken placenta" without specifying whether this was a complete abruption (very high fetal mortality), PPROM (variable outcomes), or partial placenta praevia. The medical inexplicability rating depends entirely on which condition was diagnosed. For a case this recent, the relative imprecision of the public record is notable.