Despite all the other discrepancies, that should be a red flag to the parties involved in deciding if this person is deserving of beatification, the only “evidence” there is for the existence of Juan Diego is this questionable miracle account.

Let me give you a brief overview of the process of making a person a saint. The first step is an investigation into the proposed person’s life and writings. This happens at the local level and anyone can initiate the process. After evaluations by several experts, and if everything can be confirmed, the result is beatification. The next step is canonization and this can take decades. There has to be evidence of miracles associated with the person in question and there has to be overwhelming support for making the person a saint.

In the case of Juan Diego, stage one began in 1979 and lasted until 1981, but any actual “evidence” resulting from this stage is nonexistent because officials in Rome died or retired during the process. Not a very good excuse if you ask me, but that is the one that the Vatican will give. In 1984 it was further decided that that evidence of a miracle would not be necessary because Juan Diego’s beatification was based on devotion to him as a holy person since the sixteenth century. In other words, he’d had a long time fan base, and that was good enough. Furthermore, it was decided that a historical study of his life would not be necessary. The skeptic in me wonders why this was decided after the two years of research into his life. Could it be that nothing turned up?