Pope Leo XIV says a miracle in Rhode Island can be attributed to the intercession of a 19th century Spanish priest.
The Vatican said a baby born in 2007 was inexplicably healed after a prayer to Father Salvador Valera Parra.
The story was reported Friday by GoLocalProvidence.
According to a report by The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the premature child, named Tyquan, was born by emergency cesarian section at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island in Pawtucket in 2007 and was not expected to survive.
The child suffered from oxygen deprivation and other symptoms that did not improve after an hour.
The attending physician, who was Spanish and a devotee of Valera Parra, prayed for intercession. The dicastery said the child’s heart began to beat with no medical intervention.
The child was put in neonatal intensive care at Women & Infants Hospital. Doctors expected he would have neurological damage.
The dicastery said the child began speaking at 18 months and walking at 2 years.
“Little Tyquan continued his growth as a normal child by leading a regular life and playing sports,” the dicastery said.
The miracle, approved by the pope, puts Valera Parra on a path to beatification.
Memorial Hospital closed in 2018.