Pope Francis is being hailed as the latest miracle worker in the Catholic Church.
In Naples, Italy on Saturday, the blood of the city's patron St. Gennaro, which is usually solid in its sealed case, turned to liquid in the pope's presence. Archbishop of Naples Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe handed him the blood in its case and people in the crowd began pointing out that it had changed from its usual solid state, according to Breitbart.
"It is the sign that St. Gennaro loves Pope Francis: half of the blood turned to liquid," Sepe said.
The pope responded by explaining why it wasn't fully liquid.
"If it's only half liquefied it means that the saint only half loves us. We all need to convert more, so that the saint will be fully pleased," he said.
According to Vatican Insider, shortly after his remarks the blood was completely liquid.
St. Gennaro's blood has liquefied many times before, but not in the presence of a pope since Pius IX touched it in 1848. It has been documented to occur frequently over the last 600 years. More recently, when Pope John Paul II visited Naples in 1979 and Benedict XVI in 2007, the blood of the saint remained solid.
Back when St. Gennaro, at the time the bishop of Naples, was killed in 305, Christians collected the blood of martyrs to remember what they had died for. The vial of blood was then laid next to the body of the martyr, according to Aleteia.
Some believe that the blood simply liquefies when it is transported, regardless of who is in its presence.
